Galactic Warfare Online
by ArtieRoss
Summary: A seven arc story of an AU game that replaces the Aincrad Arc, Galactic Warfare Online follows Kirito, Sinon, and an original character named Jace through a futuristic game set in the planetary quadrant Aincrad during a war against aliens called the Xylotes. Can Kirito, Sinon, and Jace beat the game by conquering all the planets, or will they die trying… in real life?
1. The Death Trap

**STORY EDIT: 12/30/14- Changed Guns from having Energy Classes to having Manufacturers**

**STORY EDIT: 1/8/15- Changed Aincrad from ten planets to one planet, with the previous planets now becoming continents.**

**SORRY EDIT: 3/4/15- Bumped up the ages of all major characters by two years.**

Author's Notes

Hello fellow readers! Welcome to the Sword Art Online Fanfiction, Galactic Warfare Online: an adventure through an Alternate Universe that follows an Original Character named Jace as he crosses paths with your favorite characters like Kirito, Asuna, and Sinon. Before you start I have a few things I'd like to get out of the way.

First of all, these chapters are planned to be around ten thousand words each, so updates should _not _be expected every other day. I will try to post one every week or two, but I can't promise a steady stream of updates. In some cases I may even go back and completely rework a chapter, like I've done with this chapter.

I appreciate the time you have taken to read these notes, and am honored that you are reading my story. Please enjoy the story after the following disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own any of its characters. Sword Art Online belongs to Reki Kawahara. Please support the official release.

Characters' ages

Kirito- 16

Asuna- 17

Sinon- 16

Jace-17

* * *

Chapter 1

Sunday, November 6th, 2022. Planet: Earth. Tokyo

"The first VRMMORPG, Galactic Warfare Online has officially been released as of midnight!" The reporter said, voice full of electric jubilance on the TV screen. "The game's creator and inventor of Nervegear technology claims that this game would change humanity as we know it. Here to tell everyone about the game before the servers open is the genius himself, Akihiko Kayaba."

A man in a white long coat and jeans stepped up to a podium that had just entered view. His glasses gave a sharp impression, supported by the way that he walked to the podium without a piece of paper in his hand. He had an air of confidence that could not be described by mere words as he stared straight into the camera, eyes gleaming.

"I'd like to take three questions today and only three before we open the servers for the game, so I guess I'll get the questions rolling." Then Kayaba took a swig from his water bottle as about fifty hands raised in the background. When he looked back, he pointed to a woman with sleek glasses and brown hair tied back in a ponytail. "Yes ma'am?"

"Natsumi Kimura from the Japanese Video Game Network," the woman said, introducing herself. "Could you give us a brief explanation of the game?"

"Galactic Warfare Online is a game where each player is a soldier in the International Galactic Armed Forces. The player travels through the galaxy to the planet of Aincrad in order to conquer an alien race called the Xylotes," Kayaba explained. "By choosing a weapon at the beginning of the game and leveling up a nearly endless variety of skills, the player can become stronger. As the player levels up more and more, they progress through the ranks and become the ultimate interplanetary soldiers. And now for you sir, in the blue suit."

"John Smith from Gaming UK," the man said with a thick British accent. "Could you tell us a bit more about the weaponry the players will be dealing with?"

"Certainly," Kayaba answered with a smile. "There are five main weapon manufacturers for the International Galactic Armed Forces: Isodex, who specializes in pistols and SMGs; New Tech, who specializes in Assault Rifles; Sci-Gen, who specializes in shotguns; Saito Corp, who specializes in LMGs and Missile Launchers; and Pyrolith, who specializes in Sniper Rifles and specialty weapons. They all make every type of gun however, with Isodex having a weakness in Assault Rifles, New Tech having a weakness in Shotguns, Sci-Gen having a weakness in LMGs and Missile Launchers, Saito Corp having a weakness in Sniper Rifles and special weapons, and Pyrolith having a weakness in SMGs and Pistols. There is, however, another company that manufactures incredibly rare weapons called Primal Issue Weaponry, and they make guns that are exponentially better than any of the other companies. And now, for the last question, the woman in the back."

"Alice Vancleave, American Gaming Weekly," the girl said. "What is the goal of the game?"

"There are 10 small planets- made up of ten biome types- that are owned by the Xylotes," Kayaba explained. "The players, who make up the International Army of Earth, have traveled to the planet, Ianides and will spawn in a space station called the Astronomic Radial Craft. From there, they will be beamed down to the planet in a small Safe Area/Base called 'Base Camp.' The players will have to fight through the ten major cities of that planet and invade the towers, or Command Centers, that resides in each of these major settlements.

"These Command Centers, which are about 10 stories tall or so, house a commander of the Xylotian Federation called a Planetary Boss. Work your way up to the top of the tower, kill the officer, and you'll conquer the planet. Mobs will die and only respawn in special areas called Xylozones, which can be found around a click or so outside of some cities. Conquer all ten continents, and you beat the game." Kayaba looked over the crowd again. "Thank you for your time; the servers should be up now."

Shino Asada grabbed the remote on her desk and turned off the TV. Without a second thought, she walked over to her dresser and open one of the few drawers it had revealing a black pistol: a Type 52. Instantly, her breath caught and she felt slightly sick. Even though her friend, Shinkawa, had said that she needed to attempt to hold the god-forsaken thing before each time she played GWO as a way to gage her progress. If she passed out now though, she wouldn't get online for nearly another hour. By that time, all the spot on the server would be taken up and it would take far longer to log on for the first time.

Shino walked over to her bed, pulling out a gray helmet with a tinted grey visor. The phrase _Nerve Gear_ was emblazoned across the forehead of the device that would become Shino's new therapy. As she laid down on the bed, putting on the headgear, she felt a feeling of fear. This was a world entirely filled with guns! What if Shinkawa was wrong and she wouldn't be able to handle the game?

_Stop it, Shino, _the girl thought to herself. _It's not like you're going to have to be there every day. You can just log out if it gets to be too much. _With a breath, the girl took a deep breath and said the two words that would change her life forever.

"Link… Start!"

Instantly colors flashed before her eyes, circles with the names of her senses began loading and attaching themselves to the edge of her vision. The system asked her to touch herself all over, starting with her head, moving to her neck and down her chest, across her waist and pelvis to touch her toes. After she had skimmed virtually every inch of her body with her fingers, her vision went white for a moment and then slowly darkened to a point where she could see her surroundings: a single mannequin in a small white room.

She walked around the mannequin twice curiously and stared at the white head before placing a hand on the podium. A menu popped up from the podium and went vertical, so the girl could look at it without tilting her head.

"_Welcome to Galactic Warfare Online's character creation program! Start from default, or use and edit current appearance?"_

She pressed the button to start with her current appearance and watched as the mannequin became black with a neon green wireframe. Shino saw her appearance slowly come into being, as if being printed from the crown of her head. The way the mannequin loaded her appearance astonished her. She remembered ten years ago when the first 3-D gaming device, the Nintendo 3DS was just coming out. To see it come so far within her lifetime was astonishing.

After confirming her gender as female, she started on her body type. She decided to add muscle and a full foot to her height- making her six feet and three inches tall- but kept her face mostly the same, only making her eyes an icy blue-green, like the color of spearmint gum. Then came her hair.

Shino hated her hair. The black strands fell with no character along the sides of her face, and the fact that it was always up in a pair of pigtails made her seem girly and weak. She was finally going to do something about it: she was going to change her hair, everything from its texture to its color.

The sliders for her hair flew wildly from one side to the next as she changed how course and long it was. She played with the colors a bit, finding that she didn't want a regular color. Blonde hair made her look too pretty, and brown hair made her look nondescript. She didn't want to use black hair because it was too similar to her real self.

The small girl opened the color wheel, drawing her finger across the wheel from various points. She got to a shade of electric blue and stopped, looking at the mannequin's hair. The figure was that of a soldier, with eyes and hair that screamed icy threats at her.

Shino proudly pressed the button that confirmed her character's appearance and waited as another box came up.

"_Please enter your username."_

Shino had never played videogames much, so when she was asked to name her character, she was taken aback. She couldn't enter _Shino_. What would she call herself? Suddenly a name hit her like a fire truck.

Sinon. Sinon was a name similar enough to Shino that she could recognize it as her own, yet safe enough that no one would know it was her. She typed in the name and pressed accept, watching as the final system announcement came up.

"_Your name is _«Sinon»_. Is that okay?"_

Shino pressed accept with pride and watched as she grew a bright shade of cyan. As she closed her eyes, she knew not what was happening, nor where she would go next. The only thing that she knew was that she would be one of the most fearsome warriors in the game, even with her crippling fear of guns.

)-0-(

As soon as the lights faded and Shino opened her eyes, she felt sick to her stomach.

Guns.

Lining the eight out of the ten walls of the room in which she resided were guns of all types. She saw Rifles (both automatic and semi-automatic), Machine Guns, Shotguns, Grenade Launchers. It appeared to be a store where only weapons were sold to players.

Guns.

People holding guns. People aiming guns at other people in jest and anger. People reloading guns. People tossing guns to one another.

Guns.

Shino fell against the wall she had been teleported beside, clutching her sides in a tight hug. Her breathing came out in hard gasps as she felt the panic attack coming on. Her intestines lurched inside of her torso as she grew green in the face.

She closed her eyes tightly as a high ringing filled her ears. Thunderous bangs resounded through her mind as the vision that had haunted her for so many years drifted into existence: the face of a man, blurry with red and peachy orange. She heard a distant voice that called quietly a few indecipherable words.

Shino snapped opened her eyes as a gentle hand rested on her arm. A boy with red hair and black eyes was kneeling in front of her. His teeth were a brilliant shade of white that almost astonished her, and he was overly muscular. He looked about sixteen, and had a strange aura about him that made her uncomfortable.

"Are you okay?"

Shino jumped at the boy's voice. This was not the voice of she had expected. It was high pitched and bright, certainly _not_ the voice of the boy that she thought was sixteen. She frowned deeply and turned her head away.

"Fine," Shino told the boy in a cold voice, shrugging his hand off of her upper left arm. His hand went down to hers as it fell, but she quickly smacked it away, not wanting to let the boy touch her.

"You seemed to be on the verge of a panic attack," the boy said, moving the hand to the back of his neck. "I ask out of curiosity, not pity."

"I'm fine," she assured him, shooting him a glare. When she saw the boy smile, she cursed herself for not practicing the glare beforehand; she must have seemed rather tsundere. "Wipe that smile off of your face, or I'll wipe it off for you," she added angrily.

"You're icy façade is melting," the boy said with a smirk as he stood, holding out a hand. "My name is Jackal."

"What façade?" Shino asked as she cursed inwardly. This was most certainly_ not_ how she had intended her first day in Galactic Warfare Online to go. She was going to be a soldier who needed no one, and this Jackal boy was messing everything up!

"It's impolite to not introduce yourself," the boy said with a cocky grin. "What's your name?"

Shino swore again, this time under her breath. Now she would be considered impolite if she didn't give him her name. Then a thought hit her: She was still acting as Shino Asada. Shino Asada was a polite, well-mannered person. Shino Asada was a cute schoolgirl. Shino Asada was afraid of the damage a firearm could do. Shino Asada would die in this world over and over.

_Sinon, _on the other hand, was by no means kind; she was actually the opposite, sassy and blunt. _Sinon_ was not a cute schoolgirl; she was a warrior who demanded respect. _Sinon_ was not afraid of the raw power a firearm in her hand could have; as a matter of fact, she embraced the power. _Sinon _wouldn't die in this world; she would live to be one of its legends.

"Get used to disappointment," Sinon said, getting up and brushing off her shoulders. "I'm not some pushover schoolgirl, and I didn't come here to impress you."

Shino felt a natural impulse try and force her eyes open wider out of shock at her words, but Sinon kept her eyes still, staring into the boy named Jackal's eyes. Shino could almost feel ice covering her heart as the blue-haired warrior took control. And she _took control._

Jackal stared at her in slight shock, keeping his facial features slack. He seemed to look her over once, studying her as if to see a switch that might have flipped to Sinon-mode. Shino's knees were knocking, but Sinon stood tall and strong as she was examined.

"Suit yourself," the boy said with a nod. And with that, he turned and walked away.

Sinon smirked, suppressing Shino's urge to grin like an idiot, and headed over to one of the gun walls. These guns had long barrels with scopes that the girl had seen people look through in movies. They were Sniper Rifles, and she knew that they had long ranges. If Sinon was going to get a gun, she supposed that a Sniper would be good for her; the girl didn't want to have to see the light leave the enemy's eyes as she shot them.

She had started with 1,000 «Col», which was the currency of the «IGAF». That would be enough to buy a base level sniper and maybe a pistol, she thought; Kayaba would surely give the players enough for a Primary and Secondary weapon of some type. She found the cheapest one, a gun called the «Pyrolith Snyper».

"Excuse me ma'am," a voice called from behind her, "but I see you're looking at the «Pyrolith Snyper». Why is that?"

This voice was one that hushed her and make a shiver run down her back. It was deep, yet soft; dark, yet warm. She felt her stomach jittering as she boy walked beside her. He was tall, with blonde hair and bright green eyes. His white tee was emblazoned with the «IGAF» logo (two guns crossed behind a star) and his jeans were a dark shade of blue. He was strikingly attractive, Sinon thought, before mentally shaking her head and focusing.

"Why do you care?" She asked with no emotion in her voice whatsoever.

"Well, you're new, so you likely wouldn't know about «PIGs»," he said curiously.

"Pigs?" Sinon asked, unable to restrain herself from looking at him in confusion. "Why would I care about a pig?"

"Not like an oink-oink pig," the boy laughed. "I mean a «Primal Issue Gun...» As in made by «Primal Weapons?» Pyrolith makes great snipers and all, but you could probably afford a better one, unless you're looking for a Primal."

"What's the big deal about them?" Sinon asked sarcastically.

"You really didn't do your research, did you?" the boy asked, rolling his eyes. "They don't have to be upgraded because they level up with the user. They're exponentially more powerful and valuable than any gun counterparts."

"Well that's nice," Sinon said without any sign of interest, but underneath she was writhing with curiosity. How could she get one of these «Primal Issue Guns»? "And I suppose you get these by killing random Xylotes?"

"Actually, yes," the boy said with a smirk. "Every humanoid Xylote carries a gun, most of which are «Standard Issue Guns,» made by the regular comapnies. Every now and then though, a Xylote is spawned with a «Primal Issue Gun», and there's a ten percent chance that it's dropped on death. There are also some missions that give them as a reward, but there's a limit to how many people can do them."

"That's lovely," Sinon said with sarcasm dripping from her voice. "I suppose you think you'll get one?"

The boy looked left and right as if looking for any eavesdroppers before answering the blue haired girl. "I know of a few places where someone may be more likely to find one, but don't make a big deal out of it. You'll draw attention if you freak out."

Sinon felt something leap in her stomach. Was this kid serious? If he had this kind of knowledge, that could only mean one thing.

"So you're a Beta Tester, then?" Sinon asked, still fighting to keep her emotion down.

"You've got me," the boy said, turning to her and holding out his hand. "Jace. And what's your name?"

Sinon hesitated. She didn't want anyone to know her until she was a legend, but this boy had assets to weapons that would make her stronger. And wasn't that the goal that she had set when she shouted those two words and immersed herself in this game? Was the risk of giving this Jace boy her name worth the possible gain of a «Primal Issue Gun»?

After weighing the options for about three seconds, the girl reached for the «Pyrolith Snyper» and introduced herself as Sinon as she paid for the weapon.

"My pleasure, Sinon," Jace said, pulling his hand back from the icy soldier. "I'd be happy to form a Squadron with you until we find some better weapons."

"If you want," the girl said emotionlessly as she walked to another wall and purchased a cheap handgun called a «Isodex Phaser», "but I tend to leave things early."

"That's fine," Jace nodded. "I'm more of a solo player myself, but the places where these weapons are found can get a bit difficult to get to and clear alone. Would you like to form a Squadron now, then?"

"Sure," Sinon said with a shrug. "Add me."

Jace held up two fingers, as if giving a Boy Scout pledge, and swiped down across a vertical plane of air. As he did so, a menu popped up, and he pressed a few buttons. As soon as he stopped, a menu flashed in front of her face.

"_Jace has invited you to join his Squadron! Accept or Decline?"_

Sinon pressed the accept button with a yawn and cheered mentally. She would certainly become a powerful soldier if she had a strong gun, despite the fact that she would have help acquiring it.

"Good deal," Jace says. "Meet me in «Base Camp». I won't go far." Then the boy opened his inventory, pulling out a small device and equipping it to his arm. He tapped it twice, said "teleport, «Base Camp»," and vanished in a blue light, much like the one Sinon had been shrouded in after making her avatar.

Sinon glanced at her inventory. The «Pyrolith Snyper» had cost her 300 Col, and the «Isodex Phaser» had taken her 200, which meant she had 500 left. She walked to the wall that had cheap energy shields and bought one called the «Mk II Silverstream». It was good enough to protect her, but not so expensive that she couldn't afford anything else if needed.

Sinon figured it was a reasonable assumption and opened her menu, searching for the inventory. She had no clue what the item the boy had equipped was, but after momentarily searching, she found the item: a «Mobile Teleporter».

"_The «Mobile Teleporter» is used for teleporting to previously discovered destinations. Equip?"_ the system asked after giving a brief explanation of the item, bringing up two boxes containing the words _yes_ and _no_.

Sinon pressed yes and a cyan wrist guard appeared on her left hand. It had no buttons, but there was a screen that she remembered Jace tapping to turn it on. She knocked on it twice with a gentle finger and watched it turn on. "Teleport, «Base Camp»," Sinon said.

And just like that, Sinon was taken away to a new place, a place she would come to know very well: the Planet of «Aincrad».

)-0-(

When Sinon opened her eyes again, she was in a bustling city. People were walking everywhere, carrying guns across their back and partying up with other soldiers. There were even some civilian NPC's that were selling everything from food to clothes to weapons. The city was most certainly metropolis level, even though many of the buildings looked like some of the rust-buckets in an old game called Borderlands. Everything about it seemed homely though, and she couldn't help but smile at the sounds, sights, and smells all around her.

All around her were soldiers, talking about how they couldn't wait to go out and hunt. Some were headed into buildings that appeared to be futuristic bars in this beautiful city. It was at this moment that she fell in love with Galactic Warfare Online.

Sadly, that would have to change.

A hand grabbed her arm and Sinon tensed up, automatically moving to open up her menu and pull out her pistol. The girl soon recognized the boy who was grabbing her however, and jerked her head away from him before telling the boy "That's not very nice, Jace."

The blonde boy smiled, ruffling his hair a bit as he pulled the hand back. "Sorry, Sinon, but we've got to move as quickly as we can! Come on!" And with that, the boy ran towards the northern part of the city without waiting for the younger girl to follow him.

"Hold on, Jace!" Sinon groaned as she dashed after him. Thankfully, the boy was over six feet tall, so she could see his every move. This did not, however, make maneuvering around the crowds as easy as it was for him. "Slow down, I can't move like that!"

"Take to the skyline, then!" Jace shouted over his shoulder as he dashed towards one of the trailer-type houses. The boy leapt with finesse onto a small rooftop, pulling himself up by his elbows. "Just hop on top of the building and pull yourself up. We'll get to there soon enough!"

"You're insane!" Sinon said, unable to suppress a laugh. The wind in her hair felt amazing as she dashed forward and leapt to the building, chasing after Jace on the rooftops. "What if you fall; you'll lose your HP!"

"We're in a «Safe Zone»!" Jace laughed, leaping onto another rooftop from the one Sinon had just finished climbing on top of. "Hurry up, kiddo, we're going to lose the advantage of leaving early!"

Sinon glanced to the side as she leapt between the buildings and realized it was true; many of the players that she had seen in the room of guns were heading north. "Where are those people headed?" Sinon asked her companion as she caught up to him.

"They're going to hunt, like us. You got that sniper, so I'm going to teach you how to use it," the boy said, opening his menu as he ran. He jumped over a large gap between two buildings and selected an item which presently dropped into his hands: a «Pyrolith Snyper». "I've got a bit of experience with these guns," he said with a small smirk as he continued sprinting towards the edge of the city.

Sinon shot him a wary glance. This boy seemed much too energetic to be a sniper; how did he manage to stay still long enough to fire a shot, let alone surprise an enemy? "Are you any good?" Sinon asked cautiously.

Jace did not respond, seemingly focusing on his breathing.

Soon enough, Jace had jumped onto the final rooftop and rolled to a stop at the very edge of building. "Control your heart-rate," he said quietly. "The faster your heart is beating, the larger your «Aiming Circle» is."

"«Aiming Circle»?" Sinon breathed. "What's that?"

"Aim down the sights," Jace ordered. As she did, Sinon found that a large green circle was pulsing in the center of her scope. "That is your «Aiming Circle». When you shoot, the bullets may land anywhere in the circle."

"How do I make it smaller?" Sinon asked, breathing heavily still.

"Stop breathing so hard and slow your heart rate," Jace said with a smirk. "But zoom in, too. You should be able to see that greenie easily."

"Shut up," the girl said, punching his arm and slowing her bodily systems. As Sinon zoomed in, she saw a green creature lurking about with ragged clothes. It looked humanoid, but had scales like a lizard, similar to an Argonian from a game that Sinon's father had played long ago called Skyrim. Its yellow eyes gleamed brightly in the sun, and its muscular tail flicked around.

"What is that thing?"

"It's a Xylote," Jace said. "Probably a barbarian, since he's all alone and not carrying a weapon. Focus on a good memory that has always calmed you down now; it will shrink your «Aiming Circle»."

Sinon closed her eyes briefly, snagging a memory mentally. She thought of her mother's fresh baked chocolate cookies; the way they tasted, the way they smelled. She imagined sinking her teeth into one of the chewier ones. She always snagged one fresh from the cookie tray, even if she got a small burn in the process. It was worth it for those cookies, the way they crumbled under their own weight when they were so fresh.

Sinon inhaled deeply, able to smell the scent of her mother's cookies due to focusing so hard, and opened her eyes. She was shocked greatly to find the «Aiming Circle» had shrunk to the size of a quarter on the Xylote's forehead. She saw the circle start expanding due to her alarm and quickly focused on her mother's cookies again. As it shrunk smaller than before, she moved it to the Xylote's yellow eye and brushed her finger against the trigger.

From there, everything went downhill.

As soon as her fingers felt the frigid metal of the «Pyrolith Snyper», Shino surfaced, her terror of guns suddenly remembered. Her pupils dilated to the size of a crab apple; her breath came out in short and heavy gasps as she struggled to breath. She was having a PTSD attack.

"_Put the money in the bag, or I'll shoot another one!"_

"_Please don't kill me!"_

"_Faster!"_

_Bang! BANG! __**BANG!**_

A hand on Shino's shoulder snapped her out of the flashback, and she looked up through panicked eyes at the blonde boy who was with her. For a moment, she didn't recognize him, but the longer she was in the present, the more she realized that the oh-so-horrible memory was just that: a traumatic memory.

"Sinon?" Jace asked quietly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Shino lied weakly. She looked around for a brief moment, searching for something before turning to Jace and croaking. "Where did I drop my gun?"

"I caught it just before it fell off of the edge of the building; it's right over here," Jace said with a raised eye. He picked up the gun that the blue haired girl had dropped, but pulled it away when Shino reached for it. "What's wrong Sinon?"

Shino closed her eyes. Inside of her, the avatar that she had created almost fifteen minutes ago punching her real self and pushing her into a closet. Then, Sinon slammed the door and locked it before walking away. The girl's eyes then snapped open.

"I'm fine," Sinon said with a tone that said that the topic was not up for discussion.

Shivering, Jace frowned. He stared at Sinon for a moment, much like Jackal had. She stared back with cold fire blazing in her eyes, forcing Jace to swallow hard and drop the subject.

Inwardly, Sinon smiled. She wondered if she had mastered the glare, but was interrupted by the sight of the gun. She knew that this was essential for her mission to gain power. She _had_ to shoot this Xylote.

After telling herself that it wasn't person (rather a string of 1's and 0's that formed an image in her brain), Sinon lined up her shot again. Her «Aiming Circle» pulsed quickly between a massive circle and a tiny dot as the girl aimed for the Xylote's head. The pulses grew smaller and smaller as she focused on her heart-rate and her breaths, until finally, it was the size of a pen's tip on the beast's forehead.

A red prism appeared above the Xylote's head, a clear indication that it was an aggressive type of alien. It had one HP bar, currently at green, and was a level one monster. This mob would change her life forever though; it would change the girl who had entered here originally, Shino Asada, into the warrior that would take her place, Sinon.

Without thinking twice, she smashed her finger against the trigger.

At first Sinon saw a red laser burst from the tip of the gun that landed on the alien's head. Then came the gunshot, which was _much_ louder than she had expected; it caused her to jump with a tiny shriek and smack her hands against her ears. The bullet traveled along the red line, roaring to life and flashing through the air about two hundred meters until it buried itself in the Xylote's skull. Where the bullet had entered, Sinon saw a hole made of a red, wireframe-type design, and the monster crumpled to the ground in a heap, as if it had been held up by invisible strings that had just been cut.

Sinon lowered her rifle and looked at the beast through her own eyes, stunned that she had managed to make such a perfect first shot. A white popup menu soon appeared. Sinon examined it.

"_Congratulations! You have gained: 25 EXP/30 Col!"_

Jace smiled. "Congratulations, Sinon. You just killed your first enemy."

Sinon grinned on the inside and found that she was unable to completely suppress the emotion on the outside of her face. From what Jace had told her though, the look she was now wearing was a "cocky smirk," and that she "shouldn't let her head get too big."

"That was a weaker enemy, wasn't it," Sinon asked as she stopped smiling. "I killed it in one hit, and I doubt that its head is its weak point for some reason."

"You would be right on both accounts," Jace said, leaning back to rest. "They're the equivalent of slimes in other games, and their weak spot is their stomach- right where their belly buttons would be."

"Well, thank you for the lesson on how to shrink the circle, Jace," The girl said with a quick bow. "It's been a pleasure getting to know you today. If I could ask you one last thing; where can I find the logout button?"

"It'll be in the tab with the gears, but do you really have to go?" Jace asked. "I was just getting you started on the basics? How will you _ever _learn how to survive without this tutorial?"

Sinon knew by the smile on Jace's face that he had been messing with her with the last bit, but the look he gave her when she had told him she would be leaving soon was of genuine disappointment. The girl desperately hoped that she wasn't blushing as she shook her head. "I have to cook dinner. But maybe I'll see you around."

She turned around, opening the menu just as Jace showed her, but was astonished to find that the settings tab had absolutely no logout button. She checked everywhere, but there was nothing; just a symbol of a door with an arrow leaving it was present, and the button to the side had no text. It was just an empty white box.

"It's blank," Sinon said dully.

"Sinon, don't be daft," the blonde boy said, getting up and walking behind her. "It's right… not there." Jace frowned and opened his own menu, but grunted after realizing that he was missing the button. "This is particularly troublesome," he concluded, sitting on the ledge of the building.

"What's wrong?" Sinon asked, looking over at the boy with concern. "Is something wrong?"

"The log-out button seems to be glitching," Jace said grabbing her hand and tapping the logout button with it twice.

Sinon jumped and reached out to smack the boy, but stopped. She hadn't been logged out. If that truly was the logout button, something was wrong. "Why didn't it log me out?" She wondered, poking it repeatedly. "Maybe we should contact the maker or something?"

Jace laughed, this time earning him a fully executed smack from Sinon. He reached up and rubbed his cheek, explaining. "If anyone could just _contact_ Akihiko Kayaba, I'm sure that he'd be swamped with congratulatory messages. What we do is we call the DC." He pulled up the menu and opened the social tab, clicking the one contact he had.

"The DC?" Sinon asked the blonde boy.

"There are two hundred and fifty «Division Commanders»–DC's as we like to call them–that answer the questions of the players," Jace explained. "Each of the two hundred and fifty are assigned one hundred players each. We're going to call them and inform them of our glitched menus."

The girl with blue hair frowned, looking at her companion. The boy's face was line with an emotion that Sinon couldn't place. It was somewhere between distress an intrigue. As he noticed the girl watching him, he smiled. "Hey, don't worry, kid. The server people are probably trying their hardest to fix it or to force a system-wide log-off. And if they aren't, they're probably answering calls and telling people that it's all part of the system's launch event or something."

"This whole thing gives me an uneasy feeling," Sinon muttered. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath, not realizing that her MT had turned on and was flashing on and off, before turning red. Her body began to glow a bright blue as she was shot through space and thrown into another area.

)-0-(

When Sinon opened her eyes, she was shocked to find herself in a cavernous room with tables everywhere. Everything about the room was foreign. Its walls were made of stone like a dungeon, but it had floors like the room of guns back where the two had met; the «IGAF» insignia was even emblazoned on the floor every few meters, marking it as an official building. As more and more players were thrown into the room by the system, an eerie cyan light was cast on the walls.

Sinon found it terrifying.

"What?" The girl shouted, backing into a table.

"Our MT's went off," Jace said, putting his sniper rifle into a position where he could easily aim it at any threats. "It's a forced teleport, which is odd considering there was never one in the Beta."

"Where are we, Jace?" the girl with blue hair asked.

"I'm not certain," the boy said cautiously as he pulled up his map, never lowering his weapon. "Apparently we're still in «Base Camp»- or rather under it- but I've never been here. This place hasn't even been discovered though, from what the map says, which is even weirder."

"Why is that weirder?" Sinon asked in confusion. "So a building wasn't discovered in the Beta. The testing period was only, what, two months? And wouldn't people have moved on pretty quickly to try and reach the next continents?"

"That's all true," Jace said slowly, "but we got an achievement after we entered every accessible building in «Base Camp». And none of the NPC's mentioned something about a massive fucking renovated cavern underground…"

Suddenly Jace's eyes widened. The blue haired girl grabbed his arm, shaking him once. "Hey, Jace! What is it?"

"There's a place that had been mentioned in the Beta, a place that could hold twenty-five thousand people," Jace whispered reverently. "Some people had thought it was a dungeon, some thought it was a building that had been coded and then removed right before the Beta. Others thought that it was just something NPC Soldiers said instead of 'restaurant' in order to add a small sense of realism to the game. It was a place called the «Mess Hall».

"The «Mess Hall» had only been found with hacks. A player named Vector, who was responsible for most of the information on the GWO's wiki article, had taken out a world save and found that «Base Camp» was a town built on a shape like a mostly buried soda can. On the wiki, he had mentioned that the curvature of the land was much too perfect to be natural, and that he had a theory that there was a room under the bulge. This started a search for an entrance to this mystery room that lasted for nearly a month, but all for naught.

"Vector was not satisfied, however, and decided that he was going to hack the game to get into the area. After another month, he developed a type of X-Ray modification to the game that was almost immediately patched. The only thing that Vector saw was an underground cavern type area with hundreds, even thousands of mobs that spawned in the unlit area. After that, nothing else was found out about the underground area. Vector had always suspected that it was the «Mess Hall» that various NPC's had spoken of, despite the fact that there was no proof supporting his theory, and said he would not stop searching for information about the cavernous area until he had sufficient information.

"I can't wait to see what he thinks about his obsession," Jace finished

By this time, the room was full of people, the lights had stopped flashing, and sound filled the room like a bubble. Jace opened his menu and opened a tab; Sinon didn't know for sure which. By the way he slid a slider into a different place, however, Sinon could only guess it was the settings tab. Then the boy began typing something in the Social tab.

"_New Message received from Jace: Turn ur sound setting to 10%"_

Sinon groaned. If Jace was one of those people that abbreviated things like he had, she wouldn't be messaging him frequently. She followed his instructions however, and watched as a new pop-up appeared, reading _"Jace has asked to form a Squadron with you! Accept or Decline?"_

Sinon frowned slightly. She didn't have time for Squadrons, but there had to be a reason why he was asking her. She begrudgingly accepted the request, and watched as his name popped up at the edge of her vision.

"Can you hear me now?" the boy asked. "I'm using something called the «Squadron System Assist»; it lets you talk solely to Squadron members and teleport to them. Focus on speaking only to me."

Sinon twisted her face in concentration for a few moments before opening her lips. "Am I doing this right?"

"Yes," Jace said with a smile, then pointed up. "This will help later, but for now, I wonder what that is."

Sinon looked to where Jace had just begun pointing, finding a green hexagon with yellow, unreadable text in the center. Without a second thought, Sinon pulled out her sniper and looked through the scope at the hexagon.

"_System Announcement. Please sit."_

"Jace, count the tables," Sinon said as she unequipped her sniper, sending it back into the inventory.

"The tables covering the area have ten seats on each side," Jace muttered. "Judging by the rows, columns and sections- when added with the fact that there are ten seats per table- there are enough seats for 25,000 people: the exact number of players in the game."

"Come on, Sinon," Jace whispered over the headset. "Let's sit."

"We're stuck in this game, and all you can think to do is take a seat?" Sinon asked in confusion. "What's wrong with-?"

"The only way we'll figure out what's going on is if we all sit down," the boy snapped, turning to stare into her eyes. "The hexagon up there says a system announcement is coming and that we need to sit down. There's no way that we can tell everyone, so we'll just have to hope they catch on."

As Jace went to sit down, Sinon felt her cheeks heat up as blood rushed through them. He had snapped at her! How was she supposed to know what he was thinking?

Sinon growled and sat furiously beside her cohort. As she did, a few others sat down with her before mob mentality totally took over. There was no noise at all as the hexagon cloned itself, spreading across the ceiling and the walls. Soon the whole room burned with a yellow-green light from the hexagons that prophesized an announcement from Kayaba.

A bloodcurdling scream rang through the room as a red liquid-looking substance oozed from the cracks between the hexagons at the farthest end of the «Mess Hall». It flowed into the mold of a soldier in red. He carried a red «Minigun»–ironically named, as it's so heavy that it would cause any player to acquire a movement penalty–over his shoulder in one hand as if it was a children's toy. The figure stood in silence for a moment as everyone held their breath in fear of the massive soldier.

"Welcome to the «Mess Hall»_,"_ the soldier said in a loud voice that carried through the room.

"I knew it!" a voice belonging to Vector, who sat on the other side of the room, shouted in glee.

"_I AM AKIHIKO KAYABA, CREATOR OF GALACTIC WARFARE ONLINE,"_ the soldier boomed in an explosive shout, filling the room instantly with sound like water could fill a tub. Multitudes of hands flew to their owners' ears, menus opening to lower their sound settings. Sinon thanked Jace silently for having her turn down her volume. It had _indeed_ come in handy.

"I am the sole person that can control this world," he continued at his normal voice, which still filled the room. "I'm sure that you have already noticed that the log out button is missing from the main menu. This is not a defect in the game, but a key feature of Galactic Warfare Online."

At this point a few of the other soldiers began to panic, standing up and shouting in protest. Various cries of "you're kidding," "no way," and "this is part of the launch" ricocheted from the vaulted ceiling and walls. Many of the soldiers ignored him though; probably thinking that the speech was simply a tutorial.

"You cannot log out of GWO yourselves, and no one outside of the game can remove or even shut down the Nervegear," Kayaba went on. "If this is attempted, the Nervegear will emit microwaves that will fry your brain, and simultaneously end your life. For those of you who don't believe, there have been two-hundred and seventeen cases worldwide of deaths that came directly after removing the Nervegear. Though this is sad indeed, it is necessary for the purposes of the game."

"That's not possible," Sinon said with a slight panic in her voice. "There's a safety on this thing, right? The government wouldn't have let the company release it if it wasn't safe!"

"It is," Jace groaned slowly as Kayaba explained that the only way to escape was by beating the game in more words. "If someone tries to remove the Nervegear then the safety could be removed also. That could also be another reason why everyone was warned to use Nervegear while lying down on a bed, because then we would fall and the Nervegear would come off too. Then the media would find out and not all of the 25,000 players that got copies would have joined. If Kayaba really does want to trap us here, I have no doubt that he could pull it off like this."

"So we're stuck here until we beat the game?" Shino asked, growing into a panic. "But I have school! I can't be stuck in this game, I don't even like video games! I just wanted to…" The girl held her head in her hands and began shaking, crying due to the extreme stress that she had been put under. Her world was falling apart.

A hand slowly brushed against her shoulder and Shino felt herself grow simultaneously tense and calm. She looked up and saw Jace's eyes staring carefully into hers. "Relax, kid," he whispered to her as she sighed. "This might be bad, but I'm here. Keep in mind there are 25,000 people in Japan going through the same problems. I guarantee everything from exams to jobs will be waiting for us when we get back."

Kayaba continued. "As you can see," he said, spreading his arms slightly, "news organizations across the world are reporting all of this, including the deaths. Thus, you can assume the danger of a Nervegear being removed is now minimal. I hope you relax and attempt to clear the game, but I want you to remember this clearly: there is no longer a revival system in the game. If your HP drops to zero your avatar will be deleted forever and simultaneously, the Nervegear will destroy your brain."

Shino began breathing heavier, on the verge of a panic attack which Jace stopped by moving his hand to her opposite hip. He hugged her gently until Shino felt herself breathing closer to normally. "Calm down, Sinon, there has to be a way to get out. And I promise you that I'll get you out."

Shino looked down at Jace's hand on her hip and flushed a bright shade of pink. This stranger was _dangerously_ close to one of the more intimate areas of her body. She should have pushed him away, but she needed human comfort right now. If the boy tried anything, however, she'd kick his ass.

As if on cue, Kayaba plowed onward, ignoring the cries of his prisoners. "There is only one means of escape: to clear the game. Presently, you are on the 1st continent of Aincrad: «Ianides». If you make your way across the planet and clear all of the Command Centers, then the «ARC» will teleport those who participated in the boss fight to the next continent, «Ronia». The players will acquire the coordinates of the continent on arrival, and other players will be free to travel to «Ronia». Conquer all the the continents and you will clear the game.

"Finally, I have added a present to your inventories," he finished. "Please equip the item, which will be found in the Profile section's Items tab under Miscellaneous."

The sound of soft clicks and swooshes sounded as people opened their menus and began selecting the correct tabs to arrive at their 'Miscellaneous' tabs. All that awaited them was a mirror. Shino looked at the mirror, looking at the face of the warrior that was Sinon.

Suddenly the whole room was glowing in a dark crimson light. Screams erupted from Sinon's left and right, everywhere as panic filled the room. When the light faded, Sinon noticed nothing immediately different.

She glanced over at Jace, who looked exactly the same. She only noticed a few scars that trailed over his body. Maybe she hadn't noticed them before. But when Jace jumped at the sight of her, she began to get slightly offended.

"What are you looking at me like that for?" Sinon asked the boy. "It's just me, I'm not a Xylote or anything!"

"And who the hell are you? Sinon was just sitting here a moment ago," the boy said, picking up his gun a little bit. "Where did she go?"

"I _am_ Sinon!" the girl said, glancing at her mirror, then doing a double take. She had turned back into Shino somehow. "I _was_ Sinon… Now… How does it know what I look like?"

Jace thought for a brief moment. "The Nervegear covers most of our face with the visor. Maybe it has some sort of camera type thing that allows it to see our face, but that wouldn't explain how it knows our body types; you look like you shrank a few feet, Sinon."

"Shut up!" the girl said, punching his arm. "It must know because of the calibration it made us do back when we first put it on. Remember? We had to touch all over our bodies and it recorded the data and everything?"

"That's right," Jace said thoughtfully. "That means everyone here looks like themselves in the real world now; there's no anonymity remaining."

"Right now you're probably wondering why," Kayaba continued over screams of outrage and confusion. "'Why would Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of Galactic Warfare Online _and _the Nervegear, do all of this? I created GWO for one reason: because I wanted to create a universe and intervene in it. I wanted to become God. And now it is all complete." With that, Kayaba spread his arms and said one last thing. "This ends the tutorial for the official Galactic Warfare Online launch. Good luck players, and may you survive."

Kayaba turned back into the red liquid-like substance that originally dripped from the cracks in the hexagons above and floated back from where he came. The hexagons were replaced by ones that read, "Begin," and then they disappeared.

Then the room erupted in turmoil.

"Sinon, teleport to «Base Camp» now," Jace said over the system link, turning his hearing sense back up to 100%. "We'll need to run to the next town before the others get there and grab what we can."

Sinon nodded, hitting her MT and pressing the button to teleport to the place where she had first emerged from the «ARC» and into «Base Camp»: the «Grand Plaza». As she turned a shade of cerulean blue, she closed her eyes, feeling herself teleport for the last time that day.

)-0-(

"Sinon."

As the girl opened her eyes, she saw that she was in a small crowd. Jace was at the edge, and everyone was moving from his direction at her, sprinting towards the northern edge of the city. People bumped into her, pushing her. As she fell to the ground, Sinon cried out in fear. "Jace! Help me!"

Jace dove through the others, landing over Sinon. Many boots were pummeling him, but he gritted his teeth and took it. Sinon looked up at him, nearly crying due to her panic, but held her emotions together. After a few moments, the crowd had dispersed, and Sinon just laid under Jace, staring up at him.

"Thank you," she whispered, barely able to choke out the words.

"We need to get moving quickly," Jace told the girl, jumping up and grabbing her hand to help her do the same. "Are you ready to go?"

"Go where?"

"To the next city. We need to grab the quests before the others to get an advantage," Jace explained. "If you aren't coming, I need to be going now, but… I want you to come."

Sinon felt her cheeks growing warm. This was all so sudden; she'd just met the boy and now he wanted her to go on an adventure with him? "Why do I matter?"

"Without me, you'll die."

Instantly, Sinon went from feeling pleased to being horribly offended. Jace seemed to have picked this up, because he shook his head. "No, back when you first tried to shoot that Xylote, you froze. If you don't have someone to back you up, that freeze will be more than enough to get you killed."

Sinon stopped for a moment. She could either stay here and learn, or go on the road with this stranger who was much more experienced than her. If she stayed, she could just sit in the city all day and make money by picking fruits and stuff. She would certainly be safe, and possibly never even have to leave «Base Camp».

If she went with him, however, they would get into situations that she knew she wouldn't be able to handle. She would have to learn how to survive quickly and level up everything as fast as she could just to survive this game of death. And in learning how to survive, she could very easily die…

But she would have Jace to protect her.

Sinon nodded without even truly thinking of the first option as a viable one. "Let's move on out."

* * *

Author's Notes

_I will f*cking get to Sinon's decision to go with Jace in a moment._

List of discussion topics.

Edit, Kayaba's tutorial, Sword of the Living Dead, Panic attack, Shino vs. Sinon, PIGs, Armor, Game Masters, Kayaba's _speech_, Sinon's decision

A certain user named Agent 94 brought something to my attention: I tend to start with my OC's, and this scares people away. I decided to rewrite this chapter to fix that and the 1st Person POV that Jace used. Jumping between multiple points of view would have just gotten confusing, and I didn't want that.

I know that Kayaba gave as little of an explanation of the game as possible in at least the anime, but I felt that the press conference was needed for the story to begin. With a story like Sword of the Living Dead, not as much of an explanation is needed as the enemies are just zombies, but when it comes to a Sci-Fi like this, I felt that–without any introduction–the story would be confusing if I just dove in. So I made him slightly OOC by making him go to a press conference.

Speaking of Sword of the Living Dead, that is a fanfiction by nanaya88 where I got a few ideas, such as the mannequin and the Primal Issue Guns (which I will get to in a moment). I highly suggest reading it, as that story is largely my influence in making this story.

I have no clue how to accurately portray a panic attack, so I apologize that Sinon's reactions aren't very realistic.

When I intermix the terms Shino and Sinon, it is _not_ an inconsistency. Shino and Sinon are doppelgangers, meaning they are different sides of the same person. Shino is a timid girl plagued by her crippling fear of firearms. When that side is showing, the name Shino is used. Sinon is a strong woman who shows no fear, and is not influenced by Shino's fears. When that side of her is showing, I use the name Sinon.

I got the idea of PIGs from the Cursed Weapons in Sword of the Living Dead. Basically, they level up with the owner, and are worth way more, but they have a certain drawback. What that is, I don't know yet, but I'll figure it out. And those that used them in the Beta, never had them long enough to figure out much about them as they were added in later in the Beta.

Energy Shields were brought up very briefly when Sinon was buying stuff and was not explained at all. I will explain these now and in later chapters. Essentially, an energy shield is a force field that has a certain temporary durability. After that durability runs out, the player can be hit and the shield must cool down before it recharges and finally, regenerates.

In the Anime/Manga/Light Novels, the Division Commanders were called Game Masters. This reminds me way too much of Dungeons and Dragons however, and I wanted to make the term fit the genre more. It also made more sense to have multiple DC's so that people could get their questions without hours of waiting.

Kayaba's speech is word for word, except for the parts that I had to change to fit the genre. Fun fact.

And now what you've all been waiting for. _Yes,_ I know that Sinon most likely wouldn't go off with a stranger in a Squadron. _Yes,_ I know that she's a bit more of a solo player. But at this point she was frightened by the whole dying issue. Plus it just works better for the story if she goes with him.

Thank you for reading the chapter. Please leave reviews for any questions. I may even rewrite the chapter for you :p All questions I receive before I post the next chapter will be answered in the first section of Author's Notes of Chapter Two.

Definitions

**ARC: **Abbreviation for Astronomic Radial Craft

**GWO: **Abbreviation for Galactic Warfare Online

**EXP: **Experience Points

**Col: **The currency of the IGAF

**DC: **Abbreviation for Division Commander. Equivalent to a Game Master

**Xylote: **The most common mob in GWO, a humanoid lizard. The inhabitants of the planet Aincrad

Sinon's Game Data

**Level:** 1

**HP:** 250 (200+50xlvl=HP, where lvl=level)

**Col: **130

MainEquipment

**Pyrolith Snyper-** Sniper Rifle made by Pyrolith Firearms ideal for players below level 13. Real counter-part, Barrett M21

**Isodex Phaser-** Pistol made by Isodex Weaponry ideal for players below level 17. Real counter-part, Beretta M9

**Jeans-** Basic jeans with no stat boost

**Tan IGAF Shirt-** Tan shirt with the IGAF Insignia on the chest

**Mk II Silverstream-** Low-level Energy shield that can be found on the ARC.

Skill Slots: 6

Skills (Basic 0-249 pts, Advanced 250-499 pts, Proficient 500-749 pts, Expert 750-999 pts, Master 1000 pts)

**Available**

**Available**

**Available**

**Available**

**Available**

**Available**


	2. The Sky Coat

**EDIT: 12/31/14- Made guns consistent with update to Chapter 1**

So a basic summary of the last chapter: Sinon entered GWO, met Jace, killed her first Xylote, learned she was trapped in the death game, and then decided to head to the next city with the boy she'd met.

In this chapter we get to meet another one of the canon characters. I won't tell you anything other than "it's a girl," though. Have fun wondering for roughly thirty-five hundred words!

Another thing I would like to do is (if you lot permit) to write each boss battle, but I doubt that this would be looked upon with happiness. If you would all like, however, I would be happy to write all of the boss scenes.

Speaking of bosses, there's a boss fight in this one. To clear up the questions, I'll say this now: there are three tiers of bosses. The first tier is a Minor Boss (King of the Lake), which is a powerful Xylote that gives much more experience than a typical Xylote. Major Bosses (Nicholas the Renegade) are much more powerful than Minor Bosses. Planetary Bosses (The Gleam Eyes) are incredibly powerful and comparable to Floor Bosses.

I forgot to add the date and stuff for the last chapter, but starting now, I'll be using little date stamps before certain sections. These date stamps will basically consist of a date, continent, and city, so that a timeline is set and easily recognizable.

** EDIT: There are time straps in the first chapter now. **

Speaking of cities, most of them are references to something. I inserted a few other names (Base Camp, Nefaria, etc.) to add a bit of a challenge. Extra points if you can guess what the cities are references to.

Somewhat related to that topic, the guns that the players use are modeled after real guns and named by the model name (except for cases the Snyper and Infiltrator). If you want an image of what the guns look like, just look up the guns on google (Light Rifles are called Battle Rifles IRL, in case you were wondering).

I am also planning on adding OC's. Italicized and written below is the form for characters. Please attach the italicized form below to your review if you would like to have a character represented in this story. Please note that very few–if any–will be main characters; instead I plan to have them as smaller characters that Jace and Sinon/Kirito and Asuna assist in some ways.

_Name: (OC's Username, not real name)_

_Weapon Type: (Type of Primary/Secondary Weapon)_

_Physical Appearance: (Models preferred over descriptions)_

_Personality: (Sassy, kind, etc.)_

_Preferential skills: (Tracking, Hunting, Sprint, etc.) _

In regards to Skills, I am making a blog that will have all of my Fanfics. A section of that blog will be Devoted to GWO. In that section, I will post a file that has a list of items, skills, and whatever else I find applicable. It will have the words "Galactic Warfare Online" in the title along with something like "A Beginner's Guide" or "Argo's Manual."

I appreciate the time you have taken to read these notes, and am honored that you are reading my story. Please enjoy the story after the following disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own any of its characters. Sword Art Online belongs to Reki Kawahara, ASCII Media Works, and the SAO Project. Please support the official release.

Character Ages

Kirito- 16

Asuna- 17

Sinon- 16

Jace- 17

* * *

Chapter 2

Thursday, December 1st, 2022. Continent: Ianides. Outskirts of Glasswaters.

"Cover would be really nice right now, Sinon!" Jace called, unloading a burst of five bullets from his SMG into the stomach of a Xylote. He then whipped around and shot another burst at a new target who was rushing him with a shotgun. He heard two guns charging up with a whine that increased in pitch and volume on both sides and fell prone, watching as the bullets flew past each other and into the other Xylote's head, killing the two aliens.

Jace and Sinon had been on a quest in a mid-sized town called «Glasswaters», a small town just outside of the first major city (Nefaria) that looked like a futuristic version of a 1970's western flick. Due to what Kayaba had said was an unfixable glitch, there was no wind over the lake that the town had been built around, so the waters were always glassy smooth.

The quest entailed traveling to the Lunar Mine and retrieving a weapon an NPC adventurer had lost after a Xylote somehow invaded the town and attacked the NPC. Eventually the Xylote ran away with the man's gun, and the NPC begged anyone who would listen to retrieve his gun. It was a Light Rifle called an «Pyrolith Sturmgewehr», and the firearm was most certainly a powerful one. In the Beta, the player that completed the quest would have gotten the weapon after killing the Xylote that had taken it.

The quest would have been easy if it was just that simple, but there were floors and floors of mazes with Xylotes at every turn. And what was more, these Xylotes had changed upon the official release from Barbarian Xylotes that used unarmed attacks to «Xylotian Bandits» with Solar-class Shotguns. Fortunately, the bandits were more concerned with using power attacks than quick shots, or Jace would have been long gone.

Jace checked the corner of his vision, noticing that he had just under five percent energy remaining on his energy shield and eight more enemies to kill. If he could manage to make them shoot each other he would be fine, but something about the way they were launching barrage after barrage of bullets at him made the process easier said than done.

Jace saw a bullet whiz inches in front of his eyes and bury itself into a Xylote's forehead, followed immediately by a roar and the shattering sound of a death effect–complete with a shower of sparkling crystals. Sinon had managed to kill a Xylote, but he would likely have to kill six more before she could fire again. They would _have _to fix that soon.

With his shield so low, he was in danger of being one-shotted by one of these berserkers, but he was literally being mobbed. He could try forming a rape train, but that would require making an exit, and he didn't think he could manage that with his shield so low. If he had only spent a skill point to learn «Frenzy Fighting», an SMG skill that would have been perfect in this situation, he might have been able to escape this mess.

Jace swung his SMG, a «Isodex Spectre», in an arc, spraying bullets left and right, barely able to keep an accurate aim. Most of his bullets connected, but the few that didn't were wastes of his valuable ammo. He cursed as another Xylote shot at him, leaping atop another of the scaled homoreptilliae. One of the bandits tried to shoot him, but Jace moved in time and the bullets buried themselves in the Xylote's face, causing him to burst into rainbow colored prisms of light. He leapt from the head of one Xylote to the head of another repeatedly to kill two more.

Jace landed behind one and slammed the butt of his gun into its head, jumping back and shooting it until it too blew apart in fragments of light. He dodged one bullet, but felt the heat of it from soaring just past his face. He had no time to think about how close to death he had just become though; he was already onto rolling forward and killing two more Xylotian Bandits.

The first of the two would be no sweat, just another Xylotian Bandit. But the last of the aliens was the chief of the clan. He had midnight blue skin which had two purposes: making him difficult to see in the low light levels of the cave and marking him as a Major Boss. This would be difficult for sure, but nothing that he couldn't handle.

Jace dove right to avoid a shot from the Xylotian Bandit and retaliated with a well-aimed bullet to the center of its eyes. With a hissing screech the Xylote burst apart into millions of fragments of every color. Now Jace only had the Boss.

The blue Xylotian had only been watching before; there would be no need to waste his ammo if his minions killed the intruder before he was needed. Now that his clan had been killed off, the Boss would fight. Three HP bars sprang to life above the Xylote's head, along with the title «Jeer-Lan the Swift» as it pulled out a Light Rifle that looked like the Atomic Sturmgewehr the NPC had described earlier.

"Sinon, I could use all the help I could get here," Jace called backwards without looking over his shoulder.

«Jeer-Lan» snarled and whipped the Light Rifle into an aiming position, the gun pointed directly at Jace's head. The barrel erupted with flames and a bullet screamed forward at a speed that Jace had only a split second to dodge. He thanked Kayaba for implementing the bullet prediction line during the Beta Test and cartwheeled away from danger.

As Jace reached cover, he took a deep breath; his shield had begun recharging. Now he had a good chance of surviving this encounter, especially with an SMG. He was glad he decided against recreating his character and becoming a sniper.

He reloaded, looking directly to his left at Sinon to ask for the angle and distance of the Boss.

"I'm fifty meters away, looking straight at it." Sinon replied.

Jace thought back to his trigonometry class. Something about sines and cosines? If this was a right triangle and she was twenty-five meters away from him, he would be just about 56 meters from the Boss was. He guessed where «Jeer-Lan» would be and jumped. Luckily for him, the Boss was directly in the center of his iron sights.

The boy sprinted in a spiral towards the Xylote and unloaded an entire clip of plasmid bullets into «Jeer-Lan's» torso. Along with a few bullets from Sinon (who was struggling with shooting the gun), the Boss's first two HP bars depleted completely. The blue Xylote recovered astonishingly quickly though, sending three bullets at the boy that smashed against his shield and depleted it to nothing.

His energy shield's ability made that a good thing, though.

With a smirk, Jace watched as his shield emitted a red energy field around him that expanded outwards and crashed into the Xylote. Instantaneously, the second HP bar was eliminated and the third dwindled away to just under fifty percent, turning yellow. Red electricity ensnared Jeer-Lan's body and he froze in place. The creature could not even move its eyes as it began convulsing in place. Jace took the opportunity to riddle the Xylote's body with plasma.

Jace continued shooting the Xylote in the back, getting closer and closer to the boss monster as he ran at him in a spiral shape. With every inch closer, the bullets dealt more and more damage. All that he had to do was keep it up, and the beast would die.

The last HP bar had dipped into the red zone before the red electricity stopped its paralyzing effect. The Xylote then rolled right with a tiny sliver of health remaining. Jace aimed once more at the beast and pulled the trigger. When he boy heard a click, signifying that he had run out of ammo, he groaned loudly in exasperation.

«Jeer-Lan» tossed his gun to the side, pulling out a new gun. It was massive, about the size of Jace's torso with a box of ammunition that must have held three hundred bullets. This son of a bitch could easily cut him in half if the Boss so much as decided Jace was too tall.

At the same time, Jace ejected the ammunition cartridge and threw a magazine on the ground, diving towards it as bullets flew his way. Thankfully for the blonde gunman, the system made Light Machine Guns very difficult to spray–moving an LMG while firing was a slow endeavor indeed. He rolled ahead of the bullets and smashed the magazine into his gun. Without losing a beat, Jace dove from the ground and spun while sideways, aiming down the sights and waiting to be near the boss's eye. As he fired a bullet, everything moved slowly. Bullet after bullet connected with the blue Boss's stomach, chest, neck, and finally his eye before Jeer-Lan's HP tapered off into nothing and exploded in a flurry of prismatic rainbows.

Jace connected to the ground in a painful corkscrew dive, rolling end over end and scratching his face against the ground repeatedly. He groaned, but looked up and saw a small looting menu had popped up and followed him while he had rolled. He struggled to get himself up and read the notification.

"_Congratulations! You have defeated Bandit Chief Jeer-Lan! You have gained 250 EXP/250 Col! You have also gained the Last Attack Bonus! Accept?"_

Jace tapped the button and opened his inventory. He found the Last Attack Bonus through the push-notifications, observing a new item called the «Sky Coat». Jace knew it was new to the Beta; there had been no Boss in the Bea Test's version of this mission. Curiously, Jace clicked on the item, pulling up its description.

"_The swiftest of the Oblivia, Zarael, granted this long coat to his champion, Jeer-Lan, to make him faster. It also granted him immortality, so long as he was the fastest one in battle. Equip?"_

Jace frowned. Nothing about this sounded right; Kayaba wouldn't have made an item that granted the wearer immortality, would he? It would have to have a drawback to it, and there was only one person he knew that he could trust when it came down to information. There was only one information broker that would both keep this a secret _and_ give him an answer–though it would be for a hefty fee.

Argo.

"What's that?" Sinon asked from directly behind him.

Jace screamed and whipped around to find the small girl behind him. After seeing that it was only Sinon he sighed, closing his menu. "I'm not sure what it is, but I have a weird feeling in my gut about it," he admitted, scratching his head nervously.

Sinon frowned and huffed, "Jace, you suggested this quest solely because I didn't have anything but a pistol to defend myself with at close quarters. Then you told me the enemies would be right here and they _were,_ yet you were shocked! Then you were shocked about that Last Attack Bonus. There's something up and you aren't saying what it is, so be straight with me. What's up with this mission?"

"Sinon, when I did this quest in the Beta things were different," Jace began. "This was a tribe of Barbarians: no weapons, no Major Bosses, and no «Sky Coat»–at least not in this mission. Hell, an item like this would have had rumors surrounding it, NPC dialogues about it."

"So they added something to the release, big whoop," Sinon groaned.

"You see, but you don't observe," Jace said sharply. "Tiny detail in comparison to the big picture."

Sinon thought for a moment. He was making a really big deal out of whatever this was about. If it wasn't about them adding a mini Boss or an entire religion system, then what could it be about? It had to be more general?

Jace rolled his eyes and opened his menu, pulling out a small book. He tossed it to the girl, who caught it eagerly. It was made of leather, bound somewhat crudely as if it had only taken ten minutes. The words _Beginner's Guide to Aincrad: Advice from the Beta Testers_ were embossed on the front cover in gold, Old English Text font.

Suddenly everything came to her all at once. Jace himself, one of the strongest players she knew, was caught off-guard because something was different from the Beta. If Jace was thrown off, another player might have been _killed_ because of a small change. Then he had nearly been killed by a Major Boss, though he had faced stronger enemies by himself.

"The official release has been altered."

Jace snapped his fingers. "We have a winner. If they added a new spin to a simple mission, a new boss, a whole new _religion_, what else might they have added or changed? If a Planetary Boss gets changed, scores of people could be killed."

"We'll need to talk about this at the meeting tomorrow then," Sinon thought aloud. "The others will need to know that their booklets may not be complete or even correct anymore. They'll need to be aware that there are differences."

Jace nodded. She was talking about the meeting in Nefaria about the Boss fight–which was invitation only. Many new players would have wanted to join the battle and gotten themselves killed, so a small group of merchants made a small group called the «Guild of Vendors» that decided who would go to clear the city–and eventually the Command Center.

Two days ago, Jace, Sinon, and about a thousand others had arrived to the city and found it just like any other Xylotian city–crawling with green homoreptilliae. They had fought for ten grueling hours and lost about a hundred players before they finally killed the last Xylote and claimed the city. It was then that the «Guild of Vendors» selected those deemed strong enough for the Planetary Boss.

One of the hardest parts of Galactic Warfare Online was the fact that the cities had to be cleared of all of their Xylotes. In order to balance that, Akihiko Kayaba had made soldier NPC's that were coded to assist in the clearing of the city, but stay away from the Command Center. Because of their creation, the players would be able to enter and clear the cities, but still have a fair challenge when it came to the Command Center.

Jace had been chosen immediately but refused when he learned Sinon had not been accepted. The Merchants needed Jace's skills, but didn't like the thought of sending a slow shooting sniper in. After a few long arguments, Jace had convinced the merchants to let Sinon fight the Planetary Boss and the girl had made up for it with hours of practice in the past week.

Jace opened up his messages immediately and messaged Argo, asking to meet up with her in a restaurant in the center of «Glasswaters». He told her that information was involved and that she would get a hefty price for keeping it quiet.

Exactly thirty-two seconds later, he received a message from the girl. _"New Message received from Argo: I'm en route. If this isn't totally worth it, I'm charging you."_

Jace laughed out loud as he closed his menu. Of _course_ Argo would say something like that.

)-0-(

Jace and Sinon arrived at the «Glassy Gullet» about an hour later at 7:00 PM. The restaurant was quaint, with a wooden interior unlike most other settlements in «Aincrad». The whole town truly was an ode to a western movie; every civilian NPC in the building wore some kind of hat and they all were dressed in clothes like looked like the American Midwest of the 1800's. He even saw one NPC with a lasso and a revolver at his waist, but the image was ruined by a very nice energy shield on his back.

Jace walked to the counter with Sinon in tow, thinking about what he would order. He had a hankering for the «Berserker Bull Bunwich», but it was a hefty price of 10 Col. He wanted something more cost efficient, but he saw nothing else as appealing to his stomach.

Sinon tapped the bartender NPC on the shoulder, causing him to spin around and engage in conversation. "What'll ya have?"

"I'd like a «Western Cheesy Western» with fries and coffee please," Sinon said with a small bow. The bartender asked for 10 Col, which Sinon gladly offered to him. She looked back as the bartender asked if she wanted anything else.

"What do you want?" She asked the blonde boy behind her.

Jace blushed slightly as she offered to order him something. "My mother always told me that it was wrong to let a girl pay for my meal. I'll order my own food."

Sinon rolled her eyes and returned to the menu. "One of these days, I'm just going to buy you something and you won't be able to argue," she sighed as she shook her head to the bartender before she left with her tray of food. The man went back to cleaning the bar for a split second before returning his attention to Jace, who ordered a «Berserker Bull Bunwich» with fries, onion rings, lemonade, and a banana split. When he came back, struggling to hold everything in his arms, Sinon just stared at him with condescending eyes.

"How much did you spend on food this time?" Sinon sighed. "15 Col?"

"Around 22, actually," Jace said shoving a spoon of ice cream into his mouth. Although the two had eaten many meals together since they had partied up on day one, the way Jace seemingly grew extra arms to feed himself with when he ate was incredible to Sinon even now.

"You're hopeless," Sinon said, cutting a piece of her sandwich off with her fork and knife. "If Argo sees you like this, she may refuse to do business with you."

"I doubt that kiddo. I've seen him eat before, and I'll see him eat again," a voice came from the open door, light and melodious. Jace didn't have to turn to recognize that it was the famed information broker, The Rat–or as he better knew her, Argo.

The girl was donned in a brown cloak made of a cloth that made her very difficult to see in almost any surrounding. Just visible from inside of her cloak was her leather armor and a metallic claw-like weapon hanging from left hip. Those who had seen her without the hood knew of her auburn hair and the three whisker marks on each cheek just below her brown eyes.

Argo was a Beta Tester just like Jace had been. He, along with another Tester named Kirito were her two best sources of information as well as her two biggest customers. And now, he would pay to give her a small research project–or as it would appear, a big one, considering he had no clue where to even send the girl to begin the quest.

"He_lloooo_ Jace~" the girl sang as she bounced over to the blonde boy. "It's been a long time!"

Jace smiled softly and looked at her, gesturing to Sinon. "Hey, Argo. I'd like to introduce you to Sinon; she wasn't in the Beta, so I've been helping her. I won't give you anything else though." He then turned to Sinon and gestured to the new girl. "Sinon, this is Argo. She collects and sells information, so watch out if you ever ask her a question. She'll charge you."

"Pleasure to meet you," Sinon said cautiously. "How are you?"

"I'll tell you…" Argo said mischievously. "For a price."

"To be blatantly honest, I don't think I care enough about your wellbeing to pay for it," Sinon shot back.

Both Jace and Argo looked shocked for a moment. Argo, who had not met Sinon but a minute ago, was shocked. Jace thought that Sinon had said something without realizing it as a coherent thought, but his doubts were soon cast away; he thought he could hear her accidentally speaking over the system link, "I'm really becoming Sinon these days."

"This one's sassy," Argo told Jace before returning her gaze to the other girl. "Tell me more about yourself."

"I'll tell you," Sinon shot back, mimicking the smirk Argo had made perfectly. "…For a price."

Argo was silent for a moment, but Jace was sure he saw the slightest hint of a smirk from beneath the girl's hood. When the girl spoke again, her only words were "I like you, Sinon."

"Well I'm glad you like each other," Jace said, pulling up his menu, "but for now, there are more important matters at hand than which one of you likes the other more. Argo, I'm willing to pay you 1,000 Col up front to gather some secret Intel for me. Every notable piece of information, every lead gains you an extra 200 Col."

"Well Jace," Argo said sarcastically. "Can't you get down to business a bit sooner? It's not like I'm your friend or anything!"

"This is important," Jace said with the cold fire only he had in his eyes. It blazed brighter with every word he spoke, though his voice stayed at the same volume. "I can't tolerate any fooling around, and you can't add this information to your information webs to sell to anyone–even if they ask about me. No, especially if they ask about me."

Argo frowned and Jace immediately knew what she was thinking. Jace had never been so serious or asked for her to keep information secret; he knew information was how she kept herself alive. Whatever he was asking about must have been a big secret, meaning Jace had stumbled across some serious info that he didn't want anybody else to know about–which was rare in-of-itself.

"1,000 Col is a small price to pay for this, isn't it?" Argo asked suspiciously.

"Accept now and find out or decline and never know." Jace told her seriously. Argo shivered and seemed to think for a moment before nodding. Jace then went on, pulling up the Sky Coat's description. "I'm not sure what it's worth. I've never heard of this item and it wasn't in the list of discovered items in the Beta."

"Maybe it was just that–undiscovered," Argo said presumptuously.

"No way," Jace said shaking his head. "This was from the Sturmgewehr mission in the «Lunar Mine». The whole mission was altered; instead of a small group of «Barbarian Xylotes», I had to kill off an entire Bandit Clan. They had a Major Boss with them named «Jeer-Lan the Swift» that had taken the rifle. And the Last Attack Bonus was strange. Read this."

Jace turned the menu around by flicking his wrist in a motion like revealing a card in a magic trick and ate as Argo read the item's description. Thankfully, she was a quick reader, so none of the restaurant's other diners saw the item. The only downside to this was that he had very little time to eat before she spoke again.

"Cough up 50 Col and I'll tell you something," Argo said seriously, getting into her business mode.

"If you want to tell him so bad, why are you charging him?" Sinon said. "Can't afford to make an exception?"

"No she can't," Jace said as he procured a scrap of paper to write down his debts to Argo. It would be easier to pay her at the end of the session than to pay over time. "I currently owe you 1,050 Col. Now tell me."

"Kayaba hated doing things repeatedly," Argo started. "When he made towns, he didn't build the buildings, he had preset schematics for every building type possible. He would alter the dimensions to fit a town, but he never created things individually. He did the same thing for items, creating item sets instead of individual items. Now I'll let you figure the rest out so as not to increase your cost to 1,250."

The blonde boy took a bite of his sandwich and thought for a moment. The price would go up by 200 Col if he had to guess, which meant this was a significant piece of Intel. If she had mentioned it was part of a set, then that could mean two things. It was either a part of a clothing set or one of many different items with similar effects.

"You said it was part of a set but not a single item set, which means there are more items like this," Jace said surely. "They all go together, but they aren't the same. Like there may be a breastplate that goes to the player with the highest HP or something. Rebounding off that, it would make sense if this was part of a quest, but I haven't gotten a notification that I have a new quest yet which means it isn't inventory based. I have to equip it."

Argo shrugged with a sly smirk on her face, and Jace knew something would be coming. "I don't have any other information, but if you want to strip here in the restaurant, be my guest."

Jace felt an uncomfortably warm heat rising in his cheeks, turning him red. Argo laughed as he shrunk in his seat, hoping that none of the other customers would see him. "Shut up, Argo!" Jace whispered.

"That's a lovely red you're turning, Jace," Sinon said mockingly, causing the boy to shrink even further.

After a solid minute of Sinon and Argo laughing at the blonde boy, Argo became serious. "Now it's time to get down to business. We can't go any further until we know what the coat does when you equip it. If it's a quest item, I'll only make you pay 250. After all, it'll be self-explanatory from there."

"If it isn't though, I'll still need help," Jace said, pulling up the «Sky Coat» once more. It was a white long-coat with many blue marks that looked like they could be in Xylose, the alien language. He pointed to them and looked to Argo. "What do these markings mean?"

Argo cocked her head slightly. "Markings? Let me see again." She made Jace flip the screen around and looked at the markings. Thankfully, Argo had studied the game inside and out and was fluent in translating the written words. "The design on the back says 'Champion of Zarael,' and the insignia appears to be the one on the windows of the Planetary Boss Dungeons, but it has the word Oblivian on the front instead of Cryptid."

Jace thought back to the Beta. He had participated in all of the Planetary Boss fights, but he had never seen the logo with anything but the word Cryptid in the center. It was almost like this Oblivian–Zarael–was something in a class of its own, higher than the Cryptids. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he snapped his fingers and looked at Argo.

"Argo, what if this is part of a Xylotian religion that encompasses all Bosses like Greek mythology?" He asked. "What if the Planetary Bosses are like deities with Major Bosses that are comparable to demigods and Minor Bosses that are comparable to heroes like Odysseus?"

"Then what would a Cryptid be?" Sinon asked.

Argo cleared her throat. "In Greco-Roman mythology, there were three types of gods: The Big Three, the major gods, and the minor gods. The Big Three–Zeus, Poseidon and Hades by their Greek names–were the most powerful and ultimately were in charge–the Oblivia. The major gods were those in league with Hephaestus, Athena, Ares, and so on. They were also very important, and were considered the ones people prayed to virtually every day. The minor gods were those like Nemesis, Hypnos, and Thanatos–gods of revenge, sleep, and death–which could be Cryptids."

"So an Oblivian is one of the head honchos and the Cryptids are the weaker ones." Sinon thought for a moment. "Wait how was Thanatos, the god of death a minor god?"

"Not important," Jace said, looking at the menu again curiously. He could equip it now and know if this was a quest. Maybe it was just an item that lowered his stats. He'd never find out if he didn't put it on though. "If I put it on…?"

"Try it on!" Argo said.

Jace hesitated, but stood up and clicked the button all the same to equip the «Sky Coat». Instantly, a coat materialized around his form, its white cloth floating over his shoulders before falling into the form of a long-coat on his body due to gravity. It flapped silently with the kinetic energy of its fall. Then the white menu he had been waiting for appeared.

"_New Quest Found! Accept or Decline?"_

Jace took a heavy breath. He was relieved beyond belief that this was a quest item as opposed to a prank like he had originally thought. But if the «Sky Coat» was some kind of legendary long-coat from long ago, Jace didn't know if he could handle the pressure. He would have to be faster than any monster, faster than any player.

At that moment, Jace felt a rush of energy coursing through his body. He felt as though he could move exponentially quicker. After checking his stats, he found that his original «AGI» (Agility) stat had been removed and divided equally into all of his stats. He also had a new «AGI stat» that was maxed out for his level, which was currently 18.

Jace knew that there were other players that were leveled higher than him, but he was _maxed_ in «AGI». Most players used Argo's manual to balance their stats based on their fighting class, and the few that didn't balance their stats were already dead.

He felt a piece of paper in the «Sky Coat's» left pocket, and pulled it out. Scrawled onto the scrap of paper was a few sentences in Xylose. He gave it to Argo, who scratched her chin with her thumb as she absentmindedly translated the message. After a moment she frowned and handed it back to him.

"50 more Col please," Argo asked with an outstretched hand. Jace added 50 more onto the total and looked expectantly at the girl. "This isn't written in Xylose, or at least the regular dialect. It's more ancient. I can't be sure, but it looks like it says 'travel to Amsterdam Isle of Drarilia and meet the Titan. Train under the Titan for four days and three nights and then kill him. This will gain the favor of the Oblivian, Zarael.'"

"So my mission is to kill a Titan?" Jace wondered absentmindedly. "I didn't know this was Shingeki no Kyojin. Do I just have to slash its neck?"

"Shingwhatty-no-who-now?"

Jace was astonished that Argo hadn't heard of the TV show, but tolerated her ignorance in this matter. She couldn't know everything, he supposed. "It's a reference to an old TV show. Now really, what do I do?"

"It sounds like Drarilia is a continent in Aincrad," Sinon said. "Why waste time worrying about Drarilia when we meet to figure out what the deal with the Planetary Boss is tomorrow? Calm down and focus on today and everything will be okay."

"I suppose you're right," Jace said with a contemplative frown. "I guess this will have to wait until another chapter in my life."

"You're weird, Jace," Argo laughed.

"So are we gonna get a room? " Sinon asked as she brought her coffee to her lips. "We're already here, it's not like we need to camp again and take shifts."

"A room?" Argo asked with a raised eyebrow and her signature smirk. "Taking the next step in the relationship already, are you?"

Sinon spewed her coffee all over the table and frantically waved her hands in the air, sloshing coffee everywhere as she accidentally shook the hand still holding the coffee mug through the air. "It isn't like that!" She yelled. Soon she noticed that the other customers of the restaurant were staring at her, and her cheeks grew a vibrant shade of scarlet as she averted her eyes down at the spilled coffee. "It wasn't like that," she muttered.

"Well I've got to run, so enjoy the night. Just don't have _too_ much fun." Another blush from Sinon and a laugh later, Argo collected her pay before speaking again. "And if it is, then give me all the dirty details. I'll pay you for them…"

""That was _sooo _embarrassing," Sinon groaned, head on the table as the girl left. "Is she always like that, shoving her nose in everyone's business and twisting around their words?"

"Yep, that's Argo in a nutshell." Jace took a bite out of his sandwich and went on. "Are you ready yet? I want to go ahead and head out so that we can get to Nefaria before ten o'clock! Then we'll order our room at the closest inn and go to bed."

"_Rooms!"_ Sinon growled. "I'm not sleeping _near_ you tonight!"

"Suit yourself," Jace said through a full mouth as he finished his food and got up. "But either way it's time to get out of here."

)-0-(

Jace and Sinon made it to Nefaria, one of the biggest cities of Ianides in about an hour and a half without facing too many monsters. There was only a small pride of lion-like «Feline Hellions» in their way, which the duo took out easily before they arrived at the edge of the massive city.

Nefaria was a large city, comparable to Chicago in size, both geographically and population-wise. It had been discovered just over a week ago by a small party of four people. The city was the second largest on the whole continent of «Ianides» and had a very neofuturistic look–just like the cities in the new Star Wars movie. And in the very center was the Command Center, a ten story tower emblazoned with the Xylotian Federation's insignia on every window.

Jace and Sinon got into the city exhausted at about 9:00. Luckily for them, there was an inn about an eighth of a kilometer inside of Nefaria. If the duo had had to walk much further than that, Jace would have just laid down on a sidewalk and slept. But they didn't, and for that Jace was immensely grateful.

Eyes drooping, Jace and Sinon slumped into the inn and mumbled a request for two rooms. The NPC granted them two room keys, which ended up in their inventories, and they lumbered to their rooms half asleep. They turned to each other and yawned a good night before opening their respective doors and walking in.

Jace's room was nothing much, just a small room with a bed and a nightstand. In the corner was a small bathroom and a closet; along the wall rested a chair. He cared about nothing other than the bed. He stripped down to his boxers, fell down face first, and instantly woke up, his mind on high alert.

The boy grumbled, laying down and shutting his eyes as he tried desperately to fall asleep and pull the covers above his head. This went on for half an hour with no luck before Jace couldn't take it anymore, bolting upright in frustration.

"Of all nights, why tonight?" Jace hissed to himself.

Thoughts flooded his mind. He couldn't stop thinking about what had happened that day with «Jeer-Lan» and the «Sky Coat». Then his thoughts would drift immediately to the Planetary Boss Fight meeting. Without skipping a beat, his thoughts would change to Sinon dying. No matter what he thought about, he couldn't think about it long. Even counting sheep was difficult.

_Knock knock._

Jace looked at the door silently. Sinon would be fast asleep by now; who was knocking at his door? The boy got up, walking over to the door. He planted his feet behind the door and opened it a crack, peeking out at whoever had knocked.

To Jace's surprise, there Sinon stood, shoulders hunched slightly. She was dressed in a tan nightgown that rested below her kneecaps with a few sheets and a pillow in her hands. She stared at his chest for a moment before her head quickly went sideways and to the ground, an embarrassed look spanning her face. "Hello," she whimpered.

"Hey," Jace said, quickly opening his menu and putting on a pair of pants. He was glad that he had set his menu to silent as he pulled on the first article of pants he had. He cursed internally when he realized they were a bright brick-red color. "What's going on?"

"I um…" Sinon closed her eyes in embarrassment. "I can't sleep."

"Yeah, neither can I," Jace said.

A few seconds passed and Sinon still stood in front of Jace in her nightgown. Jace still stared from behind the door, though his pants had already been put on. A cold breeze still kissed his chest, and he felt himself shiver slightly. Then they both opened their mouths at the same time.

"Can I sleep in your room tonight?" She asked as he asked her "Do you want to come inside?"

They both blushed deeply and looked down both stammering before they both looked at each other again and nodded their agreement. Jace opened the door the rest of the way, feeling it brush against his hip and making a light scuffing noise against his brick red sweatpants. Sinon walked in, almost tripping on his foot. She set her blankets on the ground and curled up in front of the bed, lying in the fetal position and staring at Jace. The boy frowned at her and walked over, picking her up and setting her under the covers of the bed. The girl opened her eyes a bit wider, mouth shut as she was lifted, but said nothing. Jace looked at her for a fleeting second and then Sinon's eyes darted closed.

He opened his menu, putting on a long white tee shirt and his Sky Coat before he equipped a warm blanket and sat in the chair on the wall, curled up into a ball with his blanket wrapped around his legs. He would obviously not sleep in what his mother had taught him should be the girl's bed. He glanced at the girl, whose eyes were still closed, but had a more relaxed look on her face now. He had just thought she had fallen asleep when she spoke again.

"Why were you awake?" Sinon asked quietly.

Jace looked over at her. Her eyes were still closed, but the slightly tense look was back on her face. The boy wondered what it was for. He sighed and said, "I was thinking."

"About tomorrow's meeting?"

Jace nodded. "And the «Sky Coat». And the changes in the game. There's so much of this stuff that's off. Adding a Boss monster and changing certain missions? If they've done that, you can guarantee that they've altered the levels of a lot of Xylotian hunting grounds. That's no big deal for me, but for newbies that use Argo's booklets, it could be fatal."

"I know you're worried about it," Sinon said quietly, "but the players that have been affected by that are already gone. And plus, you saved me…"

Jace froze. She was right; if he hadn't taken her under his wing, Sinon would have died long ago if multiple Xylotes were in one place. Or she may have just locked herself in Base Camp, which could have been even worse. A simple hum of agreement was the only response he could manage to give her.

"Jace?" Sinon said, sitting up and looking at him now. "Thank you. I… Thank you."

Jace nodded and stared at his knees. He heard the girl getting up and walking over to him. Her breath brushed the tips of his hair ever so slightly, as if the lightest of breezes had touched his forehead. He looked up and found Sinon much closer than he had realized, only inches in front of his face. He found that he had taken a breath that he could not let go of and only relaxed when he felt her hugging him. Then he took a sigh of relief and let his arms wrap around her shoulders.

They stayed there for a good minute until the boy heard a light snore coming from Sinon's mouth. She had fallen asleep whilst hugging him. He rolled his eyes and tapped her shoulder twice, causing her to jerk awake. "Sleepy, Sinonon?"

Sinon blushed and pushed Jace backwards, causing him to stumble and fall to the floor on his butt. "Shut up, Jace," She said quietly, turning over and going back to her bed. She turned away from the blonde boy with a "humph" and pulled the covers tightly around her body, determined to ignore Jace for the remaining duration of the night.

Jace grinned and walked back to the chair to return to the land of dreams. As he closed his eyes, the boy could feel the warm darkness of sleep wrap around him. He let himself slowly drift in unconsciousness as he finally fell asleep after the long, confusing day.

)-0-(

Friday, December 2nd, 2022. Continent: Ianides. Nefaria

The next morning, Jace awoke to a pleasant sunrise flittering in through the window of his room. He yawned and stretched his back which ached from sleeping in the chair all the past night. He had had a nice dream though, and it made him happy to start the day, though his memory of what had happened in his sleep was starting to fade from the banks of his memory.

He glanced over at Sinon who was still asleep on the bed, the covers pulled much tighter to her body than he had remembered. It amplified every detail of her form; her hips were quite large and contrasted nicely to her slim waist. Her hair was splayed across the pillow in a haphazard manner, and her skin glowed with the morning light.

Jace got up, letting his blanket fall from his body and onto the floor as he walked over to her bed. He almost laughed aloud when he saw that Sinon's mouth had fallen open in the middle of the night and had resulted in a miniscule, but quite present, puddle of saliva on the surface of the girl's pillow. He _did_ laugh aloud when Sinon rolled onto the puddle nose first in her sleep.

Sinon opened her eyes groggily and looked up at the blonde boy. She moaned a quite hum of question, and then reached up to feel her face. Upon realizing she had drooled all over herself, her eyes shot open and her cheeks erupted in a storm of pink. She sat up quickly, turning and wiping away at her face as Jace giggled uncontrollably.

"You drooled!" Jace breathed through fits of laughter.

"And you drooled the other day under that one tree when we were hunting," Sinon countered. "Your shirt wasn't dry for hours, so unless you want that story to come out on the way to the Boss Fight, you'll shut up."

Jace instantly stopped laughing and stared at the ground in embarrassment.

"That's what I thought, asshole. Now let's go to the damn meeting," Sinon grumbled, walking out the door and leaving it open behind her. Jace then followed the girl out of their room and into the hallway of the inn to watch from the rail of the second floor balcony overlooking the lobby.

When Jace had first arrived in the building, he had been too tired to focus on anything other than the phrase "gimme a room," but now he paid attention to the details. He was in a large building that resembled a log cabin greatly. There were even heads of native animals, such as the bear-like «Grizzly Bjorn» and the deer-like «Slimy Stag». In the center of the farthest wall from the door was a roaring fireplace that heated the entire building –a surprising feat for such a small looking fire.

Jace leaned against the railing, watching all the people in the lobby below. There were many average people, but there was one group sitting at one of the many tables that stood out to him. He saw a man with long royal-blue hair giving a high five to another man with spiky orange hair. They spoke in length before being joined by another boy with brown hair who looked about Sinon's age.

Jace flinched. The boy with brown had not done anything but sit down with them–an action that it seemed the ones with odd hair expected him to do–but Jace felt oddly… uncomfortable. He couldn't put his finger on the feeling he had, let alone why he felt that way, but the blonde boy was _positive_ that something was up with the newcomer.

If he didn't know better, he'd have said the feeling was distrust.

"Follow close behind me and say nothing," Jace told Sinon, tearing his eyes away from the trio. He dashed down the stairs, intentionally sitting down at a table near them, but far enough away that it would seem like he was just sitting down. He pulled out a notepad and a pencil and tried to listen in on their conversation as Sinon sat down beside him.

"Diabel, you know it's necessary!" The spiky haired one whispered aggressively.

"No, it isn't," the one with blue hair hissed.

"No Diabel, Kibaou is right!" the one that made Jace feel so uneasy said.

Diabel glared at the boy who had just spoken. When he spoke his voice was eerily calm, like the waters of an ocean before a hurricane. "You need to learn when to speak out and when to be silent, Spiegel. Now is one of the latter times."

"Look at all of their injustices!" Spiegel growled. "Kibaou has a point. We need to warn the others."

"Of what?" Diabel asked. "So a few of them are jealous. It's not like they killed anyone or anything."

"But that's where you're wrong," Kibaou said, quietly smacking the table. "One of them told me that there was an easy mission about a click and a half south of Base Camp. They told me that it was just a mission to kill a small group of Barbarians, but there was a Major Boss! I had only thirteen HP left after it was all said and done."

Jace turned to look at a girl at the table beside them so that he could see the blue-haired one's reaction. The boy looked shocked beyond belief. "Is that true? I heard that was the mission with that LMG."

"Why would he lie to you, Diabel?" Spiegel asked a bit louder than he meant to. He looked around to see if anyone was watching them and found no one but Jace. Jace gained a slight glare from him before he gathered the attention of the other players. "Hey, you. Blondie."

Jace tossed them a carefree glance as if he had been innocent before turning to his table. This apparently wasn't good enough because the two had walked over to him as he turned. He glanced at them again as they stood on either side of him, and he groaned. "What would you _fine_ gentlemen like?" Jace asked sarcastically.

"Jace, let's leave," Sinon said quietly.

"Leveling up your «Eavesdropping » skill?" Kibaou asked loudly as if trying to make a scene. "Didn't your mommy ever teach you that eavesdropping is rude?"

"Didn't _your_ mommy ever teach you to shut the hell up?" Jace snorted.

The other diners stopped eating and turned to watch the scene unfold. Kibaou flushed a light shade of coral as he realized that the boy had insulted him. He set his hand on the table and leaned in closely. Jace could feel the other boy's hot, stinky breath on his cheeks that almost made him cringe. "Did you just insult _me_?" He asked.

Jace turned to stare at the two boys. Spiegel looked like a teenage idol. He had silky, slightly long, sepia-colored hair and a manic look in his eye. He wore a saffron hooded cloak with grey accents, and black clothes underneath. He looked slim–Jace would have guessed the boy to be an «AGI» build like himself.

Kibaou, on the other hand was by no means a teenager, probably around 21 in age. He had tawny hair that stuck out greatly in comparison to his earthy grey clothes. He looked like he was mostly a «STR» build that enjoyed picking fights. He had a small soul patch and a strong jaw-line, like some of the jocks at the high-school that Jace had attended before being absorbed into the game. And he appeared to be just as dumb.

"Did you not figure it out until just now, Spike?" Jace asked Kibaou. A few of the customers began to whisper; Kibaou had been one of the most important figures in this town and this new comer–who had arrived the night before–was calling the bully out.

"Jace, stop," Sinon begged quietly.

"Listen to your girlfriend here! Do you know who I am?" Kibaou spat, slamming his fist down on the table. Luckily, Sinon's blush went unnoticed by just about everyone–except for a few of the other diners.

"Yes," Jace said with a cocky smirk. "You're Kibaou, from what my «Eavesdropping» skill told me. From what my intuition tells me though, you're not as big of a deal as you want people to think you are. You're just a dumb college jock who's gotten slobbering drunk a lot."

The behemoth growled and grabbed Jace's collar, pulling him up. The latter made sure to not look surprised–the fact that he had expected something to happen helped immensely. The former then pushed him back, but Jace had steeled himself and just scooted back an inch. Newton's Third Law of Physics was not so kind to Kibaou, who ended up scooting back himself.

A few people chuckled and Kibaou turned red again. "I _am_ a big deal! The Guild of Vendors chose me personally to be in the Boss Fight, and less than four hundred people were picked for that!"

"Well they picked me too, but I refused unless my partner was included too," Jace said. "They added her to the group immediately. I guess they really needed me–I can see why though if their ranks are full of troops like _you._"

Kibaou pulled back his shirt and revealed a sleek pistol. "Listen kid, I don't want to have to use this!" He yelled angrily. "Shut your mouth or I'll fill it with lead!"

"That'll _certainly_ do a lot to him, Kibaou, considering we're in a safe zone," the voice of Diabel called.

Kibaou turned and looked at Diabel. "He's mocking me!"

"Empty words. You need to be less of a hot-head." Diabel said from his seat before rising and walking over to the boy on Jace's other side. "And you. Spiegel, you're supposed to keep him in check, not be his back-up. I'm disappointed in both of you."

"Sir–"

"No buts," Diabel said in a tone that quieted Spiegel before turning to Jace. "I'd like to apologize on behalf of my men. Their actions were inexcusable. I hope you don't mind me asking, but are you Jace by any chance?"

Jace studied Diabel. The boy looked about nineteen and wore a bright blue coat with yellow accents. His eyes were the same color, as well as his hair, making it seem like he was matched too well. From the gun he had, Jace could guess his level was about fourteen. The strangest thing was that Jace seemed to recognize him, but he just couldn't put his finger on where from.

"Who's asking?" Jace's words were short, but his tone said more.

"My name is Diabel, as you must know," he said with a slight bow. "But what you may not know is that I am officially in charge of the Boss Raid on the first floor, and you're the only one that had a partner that wasn't invited. The rest had all practiced together as a unit of four or more or as solo players. Yours was an unusual case, and we admired your dedication to your partner as much as your skill. That dedication was proof enough that you deserve to fight in the top ranks–especially if you can become that dedicated to killing Xylotes."

Something about the situation Jace was in didn't seem right at all. Diabel, who was being very formal at the moment, had been the voice of reason in the secret discussion from earlier. He also ignored the fact that Jace had been listening in on a fair amount of their conversation. On the other hand, he had allowed his peers to confront him in a very rude manner. But there was something even stranger than that, something stranger that Jace couldn't figure out.

What was it about Spiegel that made Jace feel so anxious?

"Well pleasure to meet you, Diabel, but I have to go for a moment."

Diabel nodded with understanding. "I plan to see you at the amphitheater if you are who I think you are–along with this fine girl." He pointed at Sinon with the last words and then bowed to the blonde boy.

Jace bowed as well and turned on his heel, walking slowly to the door. He wrapped his fingers around the doorknob, almost expecting an exclamation of "halt" or "hold it right there," but none came. So he turned the knob, walked out of the inn with Sinon to begin walking through the town.

There had been so much the boy had missed last night when they had arrived in Nefaria the previous night.

The buildings around him had black, shiny, metal walls with windows that glowed a cerulean hue much like the sky above. All around him were stores that sold clothes, energy-shields, weapons, food, and various other supplies–along with people who ran by carrying their stock,raving about their service and bragging about their equipment. Alien birds with green diamonds over their heads soared over the city, perched atop rooftops, and the like. It was truly a beautiful city, built in a rough circle. It rose in a type of a cone; the smallest buildings were closest to the edge of the settlement and the Command Center was the center–the only area remaining in the town clear of Xylotes. And today was the day that that would change. There would no longer be any Xylotes that could cower in the heights of the tower–they would be dead by nightfall.

Jace and Sinon walked over to where the meeting was supposed to be–the amphitheater near the park–and sat down, waiting for what would go down in the players' history as the most important ever: The Day of the Beater.

* * *

Author's Notes

Alright, checklist is short this time. I just have to talk about Sinon falling asleep and the awkwardly easy get away. I'll also add another little thing too though that'll be helpful. I got the idea from Magic Online, by Mrs. Insane One (no spaces). It's a Harry Potter/Sword Art Online crossover and it's fantastic. I highly recommend it. Essentially, it's just a list of equipment, stats, skills, and how far along they are and stuff.

But first let's talk about how Sinon went to Jace's room and fell asleep on his knees. It's _indeed_ possible to fall asleep on someone's knees; I've done it before. But more importantly, _Shino_ fell asleep. Shino walked in and Sinon woke up and grumbled at Jace. In those moments, the same exact thing that happened to Jace was happening to Sinon and Shino resurfaced. In a moment of fear, she went to Jace for help. Then when she woke up after falling asleep on him, she felt that she had opened up too much and then shut him down again. (That's a vicious cycle in real life guys.)

Second that awkward escape. It was very oddly placed and badly written, but it's been thirty days since I posted the last chapter and I had to post something. I'll go back and edit it at some point, but I have to post.

Third, I have a special announcement. Kirito is going to be the main character in the next chapter, which will be very easy because it will be all canon. The one thing I may have trouble with is writing the bath scene because I don't know what happened really, just from a few fanfics (like SLD holla). So that will be one of the few moments that happens differently from the anime–or in this case, the manga/light novels.

Finally I have decided I'm gonna start only putting the Author's Notes at the ends of the chapters. I'm gonna keep the ages and the disclaimer and stuff. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Good night… or morning… or… you know what, f*cking whatever, you know what I mean.

* * *

Definitions

**SMG:** Sub Machine Gun

**LMG:** Light Machine Gun

Jace's Game Data

**Level:** 18

**HP:** 1,100 (200+50xlvl=HP, where lvl=level)

**Col: **27,977

Main Equipment

**Isodex Specter-** Plasmid class SMG ideal for players below level 25. Real counter-part, Spectre M4

**Pyrolith Snyper-** Entry Level Sniper Rifle ideal for players below level 13. Real counter-part, M21

**Isodex Infiltrator-** Entry Level Pistol, ideal for players below level 14. Real counter-part, M1911

**Swift Jeans-** Durable Jeans that give a +2 AGI boost

**Blue IGAF Shirt-** Blue shirt with the IGAF Insignia on the chest

**Sky Coat-** White long-coat with blue markings and words written in Xylose. Maxes AGI stat to the wearers current level.

**Mk II Crimson Wave-** Mid-level Energy Shield available on Ianides. When depleted, emits a red energy field that paralyzes most Xylotes within a ten meter radius for fifteen seconds.

Skill Slots: 7

Skills (Basic 0-249 pts, Advanced 250-499 pts, Proficient 500-749 pts, Expert 750-999 pts, Master 1000 pts)

**Sub Machine Gun-** Makes the user more efficient in Sub Machine Guns. 365

**Sonar-** Allows the user to listen in on conversations from farther away. 132

**Perception- **Allows the user to find people and tracks easier. 253

**Stealth- **Makes the user more difficult to detect. 306

**Extended Weight Limit- **Increases the amount of weight one can have in their inventory. 112

**Regeneration- **Allows the user to regenerate a set amount of HP every ten seconds. 194

**Picking- **The ability to pick locked doors and chests. 314


	3. The First Campaign

**EDIT: 12/30/14- Reworked the Boss fight to be better written and changed name from Crusade to Xylotian Campaign**

Disclaimer: I appreciate and honor the fact that you are taking the time to read my story. Please enjoy this story after the following disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own any of its characters. Sword Art Online belongs to Reki Kawahara. Please support the official release.

Character Ages

Kirito- 16

Asuna- 17

Sinon- 16

Jace- 17

* * *

Chapter 3

Friday, December 2nd, 2022. Continent: Ianides. Nefaria

The amphitheater was much like the rest of the city of «Nefaria»–black metal with blue glowing lights that made the whole atmosphere look a bit more like a science-fiction film. There were ionic columns made of obsidian along the top arc, with stairs in between bleachers covered with black leather. The stage itself was made of something that seemed not quite metallic, but certainly not stone. It was in the shape of a semi-circle with a radius of what looked like fifty-five or so feet–big indeed.

Kirito yawned, leaning back against one of the columns of the amphitheater as he waited for all of the others who had been gathered by the «Guild of Vendors» to settle down. He didn't want to sit down just yet. He was thinking about _other _things.

Kirito was used to being alone in this world–no– alone in general. After he had discovered his cousin Suguha had acquired feelings for him, he had taken an interest in video-games. Everything about it was wrong, from the fact that she was a good three years younger than him to the tiny detail of her being his _cousin_. He couldn't quite blame her for not knowing she was his cousin though, considering they had been raised as _brother and SISTER__**.**_ He wasn't disgusted, of course; Suguha was just an innocent girl who had grown fond of his personality. She surely couldn't have felt true love for him. Her confusion even made him laugh to himself; the idea of her actually having fallen for him was a slight bit laughable.

What Kirito had been thinking about was the rising hate of players like himself–Beta Testers. Many people had died due to small discrepancies in changed missions or higher-leveled monsters spawning in what had previously been lower-level hunting grounds, and the inexperienced players had been quick to blame Beta Testers. After all, it was "the Beta Testers that told us where to go and hunt! It was the _Beta Testers_ who said these places were good hunting grounds!"

Kirito's attention snapped back to Earth–well, back to «Ianides»–as a man walked up and stood on the stage. Few of the other players who were bantering about took notice of him and continued talking about the missions that they had been on and the items they had garnered through the weeks since they had entered this world. They took much more attention to the man when he began to clap to get everyone's attention.

"Okay, people!" the man in blue shouted. "Now that everyone's here, let's get this meeting started!"

People around him began sitting on the leather bleachers, feeling the hot material sticking to their skins and causing not too little discomfort. Kirito found the noises of peeling skin and such to be more than a little grotesque, so he decided to say standing.

"So anyway, I want to thank everyone for coming," the man said in a loud voice that carried well. He had a very charismatic smile, and Kirito knew this guy was accustomed to being a leader. "Good to see you. My name is Diabel, and in this game the job I rolled is 'knight!'"

A few people chuckled, understanding the reference to stereotypical tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons–or more applicable, Warhammer 40K– and shouted "There's no job system in this game!" or "a joke just like this meeting!"

"You guys wanna hear this or not?" Diabel asked seriously, raising his hands. The crowd quieted down quickly and his cerulean eyes shimmered as they took on a much more serious look. "Right. Here's the deal. Our party fought our way to the top of the «Command Center» today and found the Boss Room."

Various responses flew through the air as their speakers cried "What?" "Seriously?" and–Kirito's personal favorite–"You're shitting."

Diabel ignored the comments. "First, we need to defeat the boss and make it to the next «Command Center». The next step is, we have to tell everyone waiting in «Base Camp» that it _is_ possible to _beat _this game! Fact is, it's our duty as the most capable players out here! Do you agree? Or not?"

There was a brief moment of awkwardness. A few people mumbled, but gradually everyone had decided that they were correct. The «Guild of Vendors» had chosen them to do this, and with that knowledge a few players began to clap. Soon enough, all of the players in the amphitheater had begun clapping and whistling.

"Okay!" Diabel said with a relieved smile. "Glad to hear you're all with me on that. Now, let's figure out how we're gonna beat this boss and we'll get started on this Campaign."

Kirito liked the sound of that. The Xylotian Campaign… No longer would anyone call the battles with the Planetary Bosses of «Aincrad» a Boss Fight. From then on, the legacies of those who risked their lives fighting the Planetary Bosses would be called the Campaigners; they would fight in the epic battles that would be known as the Xylotian Campaign.

"First off, we'll team up into Squadrons of six."

Kirito did not like the sound of that.

"A typical Squadron doesn't stand a chance against a Planetary Boss," Diabel said over the commotion of people around Kirito trying to form a party. "We need a raid group made up of _multiple_ Squadrons!" As he said this, Kirito looked back up and glanced around.

Everyone but Kirito had formed a Squadrons.

Maybe it _hadn't _been everybody though, Kirito thought as he looked to the left. Just as far away and alone as Kirito had been was a shady figure in a reddish-chocolate cloak. Strapped to their back was a Light Rifle that Kirito recognized as the «New Tech Trident», which was very popular among players who wanted power and speed in a gun. It was one of the few missions in «Base Camp» that awarded decent weapons.

Kirito scrabbled closer, a look of determination in his eyes. As he got closer, he realized this figure was a female. Very few girls played GWO, and the fact that there was a girl skilled enough to be in the elite group that was chosen to clear out the Boss Room was a humbling one.

"You got left out too, huh?" Kirito asked.

After a brief moment of silence, a small voice came from beneath the girl's hood. "Not even," she said. "I wasn't left out. It's just… everyone seems like they're already friends."

"So you're solo too," Kirito said aloud. He felt his voice tremble slightly for an unknown reason as he asked the question that would change the course of history in Aincrad: "You want to form a party with me?"

The girl glanced at Kirito with a look of incredulousness. It was obvious the message she was trying to convey: "a stranger partying with _her?_ Fat chance."

"You heard what the guy just said," the raven haired boy explained. "We can't beat the boss on our own. And it would only be for this fight."

The girl considered for another moment before nodding. Kirito then opened his menu and slid every slider until he finally reached the option to form a Squadron with the girl. The menu popped up in front of her, and she pressed the blue circular button to signify that she accepted this stranger into a Squadron with her. Her name popped up in the corner of his vision in white beside a full green HP bar: Asuna.

"Alright!" Diabel shouted. "Looks like everyone's teamed up! Now then."

"Hold up a sec!" a high raspy voice called from behind Kirito. Standing behind the group was a figure in gray clothes, silhouetted by the sun. He jumped down the steps, performing a series of acrobats that would have been seemingly impossible if not for the system assists before landing on the stage in front of Diabel and turning around to face the others.

"My name's Kibaou, got that?" He asked, apparently not caring if he made a scene and a fool of himself. "Before we take on the Boss, I wanna get something off my chest.

"We all know about the thousands of people that have died so far in these past weeks, yeah? Well some of you need to apologize to him right _now!_" On the last word, Kibaou threw his finger out to the audience and any member of the group that had apparently been responsible for the deaths of thousands of people.

Diabel nodded. "Kibaou, I think I know the people you're referring to. You mean the ones who are ex-Beta Testers, right?"

"Of course I mean them," the overgrown child yelled, turning around and gaining support from people in the crowd. "The day this stupid-ass game started, the beta guys just up and vanished, right? They ditched _all_ us beginners! They snagged all the good hunting spots, and they grabbed all the easy quests too! They were the only ones getting _stronger_ in here. This whole time they've ignored us like we're nothing. Hell, I bet there's some of them here! Come on out, Beta-Testers! We should make them apologize to us, and we should make them give up all the money _and_ the items they've got! They can't expect the party to trust them when they don't trust us! Why _should_ we?"

Kirito felt a panic rising in his throat. His sword alone, the «Pyrolith Anneal Blade» which he had gotten in a mission, was proof that he was a Beta Tester. He had been the first to arrive in the town and to snag up the reward–and the fact that he used it meant he most likely had practice with swords in this game before, considering people rarely fought with swords in GWO. He closed his eyes and was about to have a full on panic attack when a deep, rich voice from behind him belted out a few simple words.

"Can I say something?"

Kirito turned to look at the largest man he had ever seen in his life walking down to the stage. He had dark skin–he was clearly of African descent and stood at least seven feet tall. He was built like a tower; his arms were easily the size of Kirito's head. He wore dark grey, skintight clothes that looked like they were going to rip due to the man's oversized muscles at any second. On top of all that and adding _still_ to the intimidating aura he exuded, he was bald except for a scruffy black goatee that screamed "don't-mess-with-me-or-I'll-kill-you."

"Hey," the giant said. "My name's Agil. Kibaou right? I wanna make sure I'm on the same page. You say the ex-beta testers should be blamed for the rookies' deaths because they didn't help 'em. And you want them to apologize and give up their winnings. I leave anything out?"

"No," Kibaou hesitantly said, sweat dripping off of his brow. "You didn't…"

Agil pulled out a small, leather-bound book–Kirito recognized it as the GWO Beta Manual–and showed it to Kibaou. "The item store still hands these out for free. It's a guidebook. You got one didn't you?"

"Sure I got one," Kibaou said, trying to regain the arrogant image from earlier. "What about it?"

"You know who was handing these out?" Agil asked. When no response came, he continued. "It was the ex-beta testers."

A soft commotion rose from those in the audience as they realized that Kibaou had been publicly called out. None of them may have liked Kibaou, but he was a powerful figure from the clearing of Nefaria and anyone who could stand up to him so easily was worthy of making more than a small ruckus for. Kibaou realized his hold on the audience was slipping, but could do nothing about it now; Agil was addressing the crowd.

"Listen up, everyone had equal access to this information. Even so, lots of players still died. Now I didn't come here to point fingers at anyone. I'm here because I want to learn from those players' deaths. I'm _here_ because I wanna find out how we're gonna beat the boss." Agil turned around to Kibaou, looking down a good foot and a half. They stared at each other for a minute before the latter left with a grunt.

"Okay," Diabel called, only slightly taken aback by the events that had transpired. "Can we get back to the meeting now?" A few players nodded and he continued, holding up a guidebook like the one Agil had shown Kibaou. "For info on the boss, it's all in here: the latest issue of the guidebook you just heard about.

"According to the book, boss's name is «Sergeant Illfang» Also, he'll be surrounded by his minions–the «Sentinels of Illfang». «Illfang» carries a Solar class Shotgun and a mid-level energy shield. He has four health bars, and when the last one turns red, he switches to a type of LMG. He can change his patterns of attack, too."

This news caused a wave of mumbling and quiet whispers to ripple through the amphitheater. Very few Xylotes were programmed to be able to change their attack patterns; it was usually shoot one way, another way, three more ways and maybe a physical attack or two. But with a Boss that could change attack patterns, it was a whole new game. Players had to figure out the attack patterns by playing cat-and-mouse for a while until they could accurately prepare to defend from the Boss's new attack patterns.

"That's it for the briefing," Diabel said, putting away the guidebook. "As for the distribution of loot, money will be divided equally among everyone. The party that defeats the boss gets the EXP, and whoever gets an item gets to keep it! Any objections?"

Not a single person disagreed.

"Good!" the boy with blue hair yelled. "We meet tomorrow at 10. Meeting adjourned, people!"

"_Wait!"_ A deep voice came from behind the amphitheater.

Kirito looked behind himself. Dashing towards the edge of the amphitheater was an _extremely_ tall and thin boy who looked a bit older than him. He was dressed in a white long-coat with blue markings that flapped as wildly as his longer hair did when he ran. Behind him was a girl with black hair who looked like she was struggling to keep up with him. The boy tripped as he reached the edge and flung himself down seat by seat, grunting as he came in contact with the hot leather of each bleacher. He fell all the way down and landed in a heap on the stage.

Kirito looked back up at the girl who was standing where the other boy had tripped. She looked worried for her companion and embarrassed at the same time. She didn't have to wait long to figure out if the boy was okay though; the blonde boy had leapt onto his feet and was brushing himself off immediately after his fall.

"Jace?" Diabel asked. "You're late."

"Yeah, just a bit though," Jace said in a deep and dark voice that didn't seem quite right for his body. "I have an important announcement. Before the meeting is adjourned, it would be quite helpful to mention something."

Diabel looked conflicted for a brief moment, but nodded. Then he turned to the crowd. "Before you go–and you may stay standing if you already are–this player, Jace has something to say."

A few groans came from the crowd. This guy couldn't have been a serious player; he was a complete klutz! But as he stood, he held himself with an aura that demanded attention–almost like Diabel had, but in a slightly different way. This was an aura that came when the boy's face changed from self-mockery to one of the most deadly serious masks. The crowd was silent as Jace spoke.

"Things have changed since the Beta."

With those simple words, a shade of uneasiness was cast upon everyone in the crowd's faces. A quiet mess of whispers was all Kirito could hear for a moment but Jace held up a hand and the crowd became silent.

"Yesterday, my companion Sinon and I were working on a mission–the «Cetme» mission in «Glasswaters»," Jace explained. "In the Beta Test, the only Xylotes in the area were «Barbarians». But upon the official release, that mission changed drastically. There was a Boss added and I got this coat, which wasn't a thing." To emphasize the last point, he picked at the fabric between his fingers.

"What's your point?" Kibaou jeered from the bleachers.

"The point, _Spike_, is that if a mission was changed and an entire Boss Fight was added into it, there's a high likelihood that the Planetary Boss here in Nefaria was changed too," Jace said, making Kibaou's face grow a nice shade of scarlet. "I would just like to advise everyone here to be careful, _especially_ in this Boss Fight." He stood there for a moment, waiting for everyone to let it sink in before going back and talking with Diabel. "So I missed getting put in a Squadron?"

As people started to leave, their conversation became harder to hear, but Kirito thought that he heard Diabel say that the blonde boy and his friend at the top of the amphitheater wouldn't get to go since they didn't have a party of an adequate size.

Kirito fought his way to the front of the crowd and approached the two. "Excuse me," he said to Diabel. "We only have two party members as well, and four is a _lot_ better than two parties of two; he could join up with us if he'd like."

The blonde boy turned to Kirito and smiled gently. "Thank you," he said in his deep baritone voice. "I'm Jace. It's a pleasure to meet you…"

"Kirito," the raven haired boy said with a nod. He extended his hand and the two of them shook hands briefly before turning back to the females in their respective Squadron. "Come on down!" They both shouted.

Asuna and the other girl slowly headed towards the group in the center. They seemed uncomfortable with these new arrivals. When they finally got there, Diabel turned to Kirito. "So since you aren't a full party, we'd like to have you taking care of the «Sentinels of Illfang». I know you probably want to fight the boss, but–"

"No problem," Kirito said with a nod, "We'll take care of their entourage–unless something really drastic happens and you need us on the Boss."

Diabel nodded, a slight look of shock on his face. "A real team player. Just what I like to hear. Now go and get some rest, we've got a busy day ahead of us."

Kirito nodded and turned around, prepared to head off to one of the various restaurants or inns when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw that Jace was holding him back. "You aren't gonna just _leave_ yet, _are_ you?" He asked with a smug smile. "We need more people to pitch in for a room here; would you be willing to go splits with me and Sinon here?"

Kirito frowned pensively. Kirito hadn't even planned on staying in an inn; as soon as the city had been cleared of its Xylotes, he had bought a safehouse that had everything from a walk in closet to a working bathroom. And he wasn't sure that he should just _invite_ these people over.

Then again, the boy said he that he and the girl needed a room…

"Well, I have a safehouse so I don't think I'll need a room," Kirito said. "You're welcome to stay there for the night with me if you'd like–you all are. I have two beds and a couch, so it might not be the most comfortable accommodation for one of us–"

"Oh, that sounds like too much of a hassle," Jace said with a wave of his hand, as if swatting the offer away. "Forget it."

"No, it's okay," Kirito said. "I'd be glad to house you all for the night. Besides, I have more space than you'd get from a room at some random inn here, and I've got enough stuff to make the floor comfortable. I really don't mind."

Jace and Sinon shared a glance, wordlessly asking each other if it was a good idea. After a moment Sinon turned to the raven-haired boy and quietly spoke. "I get a bed."

"I'll get a room in an inn," Asuna said.

"Well I'll meet you tomorrow then Asuna," Kirito said. Then to himself, "Man, I really need a bath."

Kirito was astonished by how quickly he felt four hands grabbing his shirt collar. Then, Asuna's and Sinon's voices both rang out at the same time: "You have a bath?"

"Um… yes?" Kirito said, unsure of himself.

"Can I use it?" The two simultaneously asked again.

"I guess," he said. "Can I have my throat back now?"

Asuna and Sinon turned to each other and hugged, jumping with glee. The chestnut haired girl then hugged Kirito. "I guess I _will_ stay at your house after all!"

)-0-(

Kirito's safehouse was much larger than an inn room indeed.

The living room was a fairly large space, with a long sofa that was set against the wall. There was a small table on either side of the arms, one with a small lamp, the other with a small stack of books. A few bookshelves lined the walls, filled with what looked like 30,000 Col's worth of novels and informational books.

Asuna and Sinon ran through the house, desperately searching for the bathroom; they were rare in Galactic Warfare Online. The sound of light slapping was audible as they fought each other for control of the bathroom. It sounded like Asuna had gotten there first (Sinon made a pouty noise), and soon the sound of a tub filling was heard throughout the house.

Jace, however, went immediately to the bookshelves. "I didn't know they added books to the release," he said to himself as he picked up and opened Kirito's copy of _Gone with the Wind._ "They even added books from the real world?"

"Yeah," Kirito said, picking out another. "Once Argo started making the manual, they decided to add a ton of books. There are even some books written in Xylose about Aincrad and Xylotes as a society. I guess he put them in to make us think this place could become a home."

"I suppose there's no better way to do that than books," Jace said. "Sick bastard." Then to Kirito, "Hey, do you mind if I borrow some of these? I've always wanted to read _The Count of Monte Cristo_, but I never could in the real world."

"Sure," Kirito said with a nod. "I really liked all the plot twists of that book. I never read it in this world though. Funny how that works. To me it was just something I bought because it would be nice to have around, but to others, books here are like a sense of security."

"Yeah, it _is_ kinda funny." Jace closed the book he was holding. "Thank you for taking us in for the night. The fact that you just offered your home to a few strangers like Sinon and I was very generous, and I swear that if I ever get the opportunity I'll repay you and help you out of any sticky situation I can."

"I'll be fine," Kirito said with a chuckle. "Don't worry about it."

"This is quite the unpredictable game," Jace said, jokingly punching the boy in the shoulder. "There are two things you should never give up here: help and advice. Those are the two things that'll keep you alive in this world."

"Alright then. I accept your offer," Kirito said, walking over to the kitchen. "Are you hungry? I think I have enough food to make a semi-adequate meal for all of us. I hope you like bread and noodles."

"You mean like the bread from the markets?" Jace wondered. "That stuff is awful!"

"I have a little secret to make it a bit better," Kirito admitted, pulling up his trade box and putting an item called «Cream» inside of it. "I got it from the quest, 'The Heifer Strikes Back' in «Glasswaters» a bit ago. Next time you buy some bread, spread this over it."

"Oh, that quest?" Jace wondered, suddenly recognizing the item. "It seemed like a lot of work for something as simple as cream."

"Heifer was one of my favorite missions," Kirito said with mock offense.

"Nah man, 'Jailbird Jim' all the way," Jace said with a grin. "Best mission in all of Ianides–maybe even all of Aincrad, depending on how good missions on other continents are."

"No man, 'Jailbird Jim' was _okay,_" Kirito said with a laugh. "But if we're being honest, the real best mission was «Ghillie of Babel»."

"Well as a former sniper, I would have to agree," Jace admitted with a smirk. "But it must have been much more difficult since you mainly use a «Plasmid Sword»."

The raven-haired boy stepped back slightly, shocked that Jace had figured out that he was one of the few players that used swords over guns. He took care to never have his sword equipped when he wasn't in battle, and Jace hadn't ever seen the boy in a fight. There was no way he could have known... was there?

"You don't have a back strap equipped," Jace explained, pointing to his shoulders. Then his finger traveled downward to his right wrist. "Your wrist is pretty muscular, which gives me three thoughts. The first would be that you primarily use a pistol, but your lack of a holster would suggest otherwise. After all, almost everyone carries a pistol, which means you'd have to be hiding something everyone uses. The second would be that you use a sword in battle, which seems the most likely considering anyone just looking at you would assume you as no threat at all. The third option… well that's a bit more vulgar than I'd be willing to say aloud."

Kirito blushed a dark shade of scarlet. "No, it's not that! I _do_ use a sword!"

Jace raised his head and smiled devilishly, looking into Kirito's eyes with a malicious humor. "I know. It's apparent by your wrist."

Kirito put away the book he had been holding and cleared his throat loudly, looking down as if there was something quite interesting about the tips of his shoes. "I'm going to make lunch, make yourself at home." And with that, Jace ran to the kitchen with the sound of Jace's snickers as his anthem.

Kirito decided to make sandwiches for everyone. He grabbed a jar of «Cream» and spread it over the bread he had. Then he grabbed some «Slimy Stag Steak» and made sandwiches for everyone. He cursed as he accidentally cut his finger when he was cutting the meat, and figured he probably needed to clean the wound.

Kirito quickly walked away and turned to the bathroom to go and wash his hands. He threw open the door and walked to the sink so that he could wash his finger. As soon as he turned on the faucet, he heard a scream and turned around, startled by being screamed at for walking into his own bathroom. Then he felt his cheeks heating up even _more_ when he realized _why_ someone was screaming at him in his bathroom.

He had just walked in on Asuna bathing.

His first realization was that Asuna didn't have her cloak on. Granted that was a bit obvious considering the fact that she was bathing, but it was only now that he got a quick glimpse of her without the mask of the cloak. She had long, ochre-brown hair that cascaded down her shoulders to about her waist, but the tips that had been dragging through the water were slightly darker. She had eyes the color of bronze, and her skin looked as smooth as silk. She sat with her chest pointed away and arms covering herself. Her cheeks were redder than his own (Kirito felt that the thought of having cheeks burning hotter than his was astonishing) with her head tilted to glare at Kirito over her shoulder. She opened her mouth and screamed at him. "_What the hell are you doing in here? Get out! NOW!"_

Kirito scampered out of the room as he felt canisters of shaving cream and shampoo being hurled at his head. He would get a few goose eggs tomorrow, he thought as he tripped out of the room and closed the door behind him. Jace was laughing at him, keeled over on the couch.

"Oh man, I wanted to warn you but it was too perfect," he gasped through uncontrollable laughter.

"I hate you!" Kirito growled, cheeks ablaze with embarrassment, dashing to his room, where he sat alone. His walking in replayed over and over in his mind. He hadn't _seen_ anything, but he still felt like his cheeks were going to burst into flame from his embarrassment. He could only _imagine_ how Asuna must have felt. How could he have forgotten that she was bathing? He chalked it up to Jace's comment getting him _much_ more flustered than he had accounted for.

He climbed onto his bed and kneeled in front of his pillow, just staying there as still as he could be. He would come back out of his room in a moment, but right now he couldn't face anyone. He frowned and stared at his pillow.

After around fifteen minutes of sitting on his bed, Kirito moved from his bed back to the door and reached for the handle. As his hand came into his view, he had neglected the cut. After all, he couldn't just stay in the bathroom and wash out his cut while Asuna was bathing.

Kirito wrapped his finger in his black «IGAF Shirt» to stop the bleeding. While the cut was small enough that it didn't bring a «Bleeding» effect, it was a habit Kirito had picked up in the real world. Taking a note from real world medical practices, applying pressure to a bleeding wound wouldn't heal the effect, but it would slow it down to the point where he wouldn't lose HP.

He walked out of the room, putting enough pressure on his finger to keep the bleeding to a minimum, and walked over to the sandwiches he had made. It may have sounded gross, but Kirito thought the meat one could get from a «Slimy Stag» was quite delicious–the meat tasted nothing like one would think from the name.

Kirito took the sandwiches and preheated the oven to 350° Fahrenheit. After it heated to the proper temperature, Jace put in the sandwiches and waited for about ten minutes. Then, the «Slimy Stagwiches» were ready.

"Jace," Kirito called. "Sandwiches are ready."

Jace walked over to the kitchen with a smirk on his face. "Thanks Kirito. Did Asuna tell you if she wanted condiments on her sandwich?"

"Shut up," Kirito grumbled, throwing the sandwich at the tall blonde.

"She'll get over it," Jace said as he sat down with Kirito. He then took a bite out of his sandwich and continued through bites of the sandwich "It was an accident, after all."

"Yeah, I hope so," Kirito mumbled. "Is Sinon bathing now then?"

"Yeah she is," Jace said through a bite of his sandwich. "Is this made from «Slimy Stag Meat»? It's delicious."

Kirito nodded and saw Asuna coming back out of the bathroom, fully dressed again from the corner of his eye. His cheeks flushed a bright color of pink and he stared at his sandwich. From the way Asuna came and calmly sat down next to him though, it was almost as if she had forgiven him.

"I'm sorry about that," Kirito mumbled to the girl beside him as he stared at the bread of his sandwich.

"It was an accident," Asuna said nonchalantly. "At least I assume. If it wasn't, I might have to hurt you."

"It was!" Kirito said quickly looking over at her in disbelief. "I didn't mean to–"

It was at that point that Kirito noticed a shadow of a smirk on Asuna's lips. He then looked back at his plate and grumbled about how "everyone was turning into Argo these days."

"Got ya," Asuna said with a giggle. "But seriously, if it happens again, I'll have to kill you."

"Well let's hope it doesn't happen again," a voice came from around the corner. Then, Sinon came from behind the corner, drying off her hair. "Cause then we'd have to leave. It's a bit rude to hang out in someone's house after you kill the host."

"Sinon!" Jace said, pushing out a chair with his foot. "Sit on down."

Sinon sat beside Jace and smiled at Kirito. "Thanks for letting me use your tub. Those were the best ten minutes I've had since I got stuck in this game!"

Kirito smiled back and then the four engaged in pleasant conversation that lasted for hours. Eventually, Jace and Sinon grew tired and retired to their respective rooms. It was just him and Asuna now. They sat in silence for an awkward moment before the both opened their mouths to speak at the same time. Asuna was the only one that actually spoke, however.

"Thank you for inviting me into your home and letting me use your shower," she mumbled. "I really do appreciate it."

"Uh, any time," Kirito said, his hand coming to his neck on instinct as he flushed a gentle shade of pink. "I'm really sorry about the whole thing; me and Jace were talking and I got flustered and then I accidentally cut my finger when I was making the sandwiches, and–"

"Now would be the time to hush," Asuna said, putting her hand on the table. "I just wanted to thank you, not dwell on the fact that you saw me naked. Just take the thanks and forget what happened."

Kirito swallowed and looked down at his plate. "Yes ma'am." As he heard a slight giggle from Asuna, he stared harder at his plate and felt his cheeks heating. Kirito had never blushed _once_ before, and now he was doing it like crazy! What was up with that! Was the sight of a naked woman that powerful?

"I also appreciate the meal," the girl said.

"I can show you how to make it if you'd like," Kirito offered, thankful to have a new conversation to talk about.

The girl frowned and shook her head. "I didn't come here to eat good food," Asuna explained.

"Okay," Kirito said. "Why did you?"

Asuna clasped her hands together, now following Kirito's lead and staring down. "So I don't lose sight of who I am. I don't want to lock myself in a room in «Base Camp» just to slowly rot away. I'd rather stay the way I am to the last moment. Even if a Xylote beats me and I die, I _won't_ lose… to this game or this world. No matter what."

In that moment, Kirito noticed many things. The way that she was speaking was quiet, but with great determination. Asuna was fighting to stay _herself_, not to stay alive. It was for the wrong reasons, but Kirito knew that if she was fighting to save herself there was no stopping her. She was long in motion on the path of fighting.

"I wouldn't want a party member dying on me," Kirito responded slowly. "So try not to die tomorrow."

Asuna nodded. They talked quietly for a few more minutes before the girl yawned quietly. "I'm going to go to bed now. Have a good night's sleep." Then she got up without another word and closed her eyes, walking to the couch with a stretch. "See you tomorrow."

Kirito nodded and waved, moving over to the room where Jace had gone in. Jace was laying on the bed staring up at the ceiling without moving. He did acknowledge Kirito's entrance with a polite nod. "Hey Kirito," he said. "You sleeping in here? I'll get the floor."

"Oh, I've got the floor; you're the guest," Kirito explained. "Why are you still awake?"

"Not quite something I can help," Jace answered. "I haven't had good sleep in about three days just thinking about this Campaign tomorrow. I just keep wondering what will happen if I die, if Sinon dies. I have to make sure that at least she survives to the end of this. I promised her that I would protect her until we escaped. Big promise to keep now that we're finally fighting in the first battle of the Xylotian Campaign, you know?"

"Well Sinon is quite the shot from what _I've_ heard," Kirito said. "She can apparently get her Aiming Circle less than the size of a cranberry from a distance. Accuracy like that comes around once in a lifetime. You're lucky that a sniper like that is willing to spot you; I don't think anyone or anything would come near you guys planning to hurt you."

"Well so far, you would be right," Jace grunted. "Have you heard? There's been a lot of player deaths due to other players. The criminals are called «Player Killers» by the few that have heard about them. I'm afraid it won't be long before they start banding up and forming killing clans."

"Why would they kill other players?" Kirito asked. He was not at all prepared for the answer that would follow.

Jace turned to the boy for a moment before looking up at the ceiling. "They kill for the thrill of it. Because there's nothing better to do with all the time they've been given. And here, they can't be punished for it, not really. At most, they get locked in the «Jail» back at «Base Camp». If they can kill and only have to deal with that, it's no big deal."

Kirito shivered. He had heard of some pretty evil people, but these people just made his skin crawl. They killed for fun? They ended the lives of other human beings–that had families; wives, sons, daughters, fiancées, grandparents at that–just to get a few gruesome laughs at the end of the day. He had to know more.

"Where are they now?" Kirito asked.

"Somewhere far away from you, bud," Jace answered. "Don't worry."

"I'm not worried!" Kirito grumbled. "I want to go after them."

Jace instantly sat up straight. "I know that you're skilled; your being at the raid meeting was enough proof of that. But if you go after them, they won't have a problem with killing you. You're a good person, and if you killed anyone, it would weigh heavily on your conscience. You could freeze up, and they wouldn't wait for you to unfreeze. They'd just put a bullet through your skull. The best thing to do now is to wait."

"Wait?" Kirito repeated.

"Trust me, Kirito," the blonde boy. "You aren't strong enough. You may be leveled close to the top, but so are they. If you go after them, you'll be killed where you stand. Just trust me, when I tell you to wait–and when it's time, I'll go into battle against them with you."

Kirito stopped for a moment and nodded slowly. The knowledge that there were red players that killed others bothered him greatly, but all in all, the raven-haired boy would _have_ to deal with it. At least until he was ready to go against them. And the first rule of war was to know your enemy.

Kirito turned over and opened his menu to get to his message feed with Argo. Then he typed a short message.

"_Hey Argo. I need all the info you can get on Red Players."_

)-0-(

Saturday, December 3rd, 2022. Continent: «Ianides». «Nefaria».

Kirito, Asuna, Jace and Sinon stood with the rest of the players involved in the first battle of the Xylotain Campaign in front of the door to the Planetary Boss, «Sergeant Illfang». The door was ebony black, and looked like it could stop anything from coming through–despite the fact that it would open if the wall was pressed by a player's right hand for more than three seconds.

"Listen up, everyone," Diabel said, slinging his Assault Rifle into a position he could easily fire from. "I've only got one thing to say to you… Let's win! Come on!" He then put his hand on the door until it opened, various parts swinging and unlocking into place. Soon the entirety of the group was just staring into the Boss Room.

The room was dark as they walked in, but Kirito already knew the layout of the room: A few columns here, a throne in the back of the room there and a group of low walls to provide cover in between… the only thing that made Kirito even _slightly_ anxious was the pair of glowing red eyes where the throne was, watching the large group of soldiers as they entered the room.

Diabel led them forward, rifle raised and at the ready–the Boss was invincible until the lights came on and his health bars sprung into existence–through the first few yards of the room. As soon as they were about fifty meters from the Boss, the lights flew on as if triggered by a pressure pad, bathing the room in yellow light

As soon as Kirito thought he could see well, the room lit up and he saw the red shape of «Sergeant Illfang» hurtling through the air. He landed on the ground with a heavy rumble, knees bent to absorb the impact, and threw his head back with a loud roar. «Illfang» stood about fourteen feet tall and must have weighed one or two tons. Four health bars came into existence around his head, along with a red diamond and his name. He roared again and three forest green Xylotes that were much smaller came into existence from a bunch of blue crystals in the air. Then, they all pulled out Shotguns–«Illfang's» was much larger than his sentinels'–and sprinted forward.

"Commence attack!" Diabel shouted.

Instantly the room was filled with the cries of hundreds of players. Kirito and the others from the front lines flew forward, dodging the concentrated blasts of energy while Sinon and various others hit the floor and begin to take potshots at the Boss and his Sentinels. A few LMG-wielders also took cover and fired a steady stream of bullets at the Sergeant from behind some of the pillars in the room.

Kirito dashed forward and smacked a Sentinels' shotgun away with his Plasmid Sword, the «Pyrolith Anneal Blade», shouting "Switch!" Jace rolled into position from behind him and unloaded an unhealthy amount of plasma into the Sentinel's face. Kirito knew the Xylote's Energy Shield would be depleting as Jace fired and that Asuna would take care of sapping away the Sentinel's health as soon as the shield was down. And when she did that, Kirito felt as if he was watching someone hammer an iron nail into stone; it was incredibly satisfying to watch.

Kirito had thought she was a beginner at first, but as he watched her move, he was doubtful. She was fantastic at placing her shots exactly where they needed to be, and even better at making sure she wasn't in one place for too long, doing a series of acrobatic twists, rolls, and jumps to avoid incoming fire from the sentinels. "Good job," the boy murmured to himself as he watched the girl.

It wasn't until Kirito heard a shot being charged from behind him that Kirito remembered he was not supposed to be watching Asuna, but rather fighting other enemies. He jumped over the shotgun blast and sent it flying back with a flick of his «Pyrolith Anneal Blade». It crashed into the second Sentinel, who fell back and burst into tiny prisms of refracted light.

Kirito glanced over at the boss, surprised to find that he was down to his last health bar–and into the red at that. «Illfang» seemed to respond to this by baring his teeth–Kirito now knew why he was called "Illfang"–and hurling his weapon of you the side where Sinon was, who barely managed to jump over, shooting off for shots at the boss on the way.

"Looks like the guidebook was right," Kibaou said with a smirk, aiming his gun to take a potshot from behind one of the low barriers where his Squadron was positioned.

"Stand back!" Diabel shouted, drawing some confusion from the others as he dashed forward and charged a «Weapon Skill». "I've got it!"

Kirito got a sudden concerned feeling in his stomach. Hadn't the plan been for everyone to surround «Illfang» once he had been put into the red? But as Kirito caught sight of the smirk on Diabel's face, he knew what was going on.

Diabel was going after the Last Attack Bonus.

He jumped forward, leaping over the red Xylote's last minion with ease and somersaulting once in the air. As he turned end over end, he also drew his Assault Rifle to take out the Boss. But Kirito could tell something was up, that something unexpected was about to happen as the red alien reached for his side instead of his back. The boy watched with wide eyes as «Illfang» pulled out an Atomic-class SMG and held it in his right hand as if it were a pistol. It was just as Jace had feared: the Planetary Boss of «Nefaria» had been changed in the release of the game.

"Wait!" Kirito shouted, eyes wide. "Stop! It's no good! Get out of there!"

But Diabel _didn't _get out of there. «Illfang» leapt up and ricocheted from one column to the next, making a triangle and then leaping down once he got back to the first column. He unleashed a wave of exploding bullets that ravaged Diabel's HP bar. But the red Xylote's conquest of Diabel was not over; he whizzed behind him and sent him flying up and away.

Kibaou watched with a look of horror on his face, screaming "Diabel! No!" But as «Illfang» shoved himself in the middle of good old Spike's Squadron, Kibaou found that his focus needed to be directed elsewhere.

"Diabel!" Kirito cried, running over to the fallen warrior. He picked up the soldier's head, muttering "What the hell were you thinking?" and pulling out a health potion. He went to push it to their leader's mouth, but the blue-haired man refused it, pushing the hand away from his face.

"You know," He whispered shakily. "You were a Beta Tester too, weren't you?"

Kirito hesitated for a moment before nodding with a slight look of alarm. "You were after the Last Attack Bonus, the rare item. You're just like me… a Beta Tester."

Diabel closed his eyes in pain and gasped for breath. "Please," he breathed. "You have to… defeat the Boss... for everyone here." With a nod of encouragement, and a fierce look, Diabel burst into cyan fragments.

When the death game started, the only thing Kirito thought about was how he was going to survive. Nothing else mattered. But Diabel hadn't been like that… he never abandoned the other players. He led everyone and he fought _brilliantly_. He tried to accomplish something Kirito couldn't, and Kirito would say that he had succeeded.

Kirito turned back to the red Xylote, who roared violently at the other fighters, shooting bullets at a few of them who managed to dodge or take a small few of the bullets. He had to kill the Sergeant now… for Diabel. He had just been thinking about taking «Illfang» solo when Asuna stepped in. "I'll go too," she said, apparently guessing what Kirito was thinking from the angry grimace on his face.

"Okay," Kirito said, throwing her a glance. Then, as if their minds were in sync, they both dashed forward at the same time. "We'll hit them just like we did the minions!" He said, turning over to look at Asuna. "You got it," came her response.

The two charged at «Sergeant Illfang» at an astonishing speed, who began to prepare a shot for the two of them. Kirito got there first and swung his sword up into the Xylote's gun with a vigorous «Uppercut» skill before yelling "Switch!"

Asuna dashed in, swinging her «New Tech Trident» up to aim for the Sergeant. She also used a skill, pulling her Light Rifle back a few inches before thrusting it forward an shooting it. «Illfang» also shot back ("Asuna!" Kirito cried), but missed her body and tore up her cloak. Its durability ran out at that point, and the item exploded in a flurry of cyan crystals. It was briefly after that that Asuna's shot connected, sending «Sergeant Illfang» flying backwards, and Asuna standing heroically in front of his fallen figure.

Kirito ran forward with a shout. "He's coming back!" Kirito slashed a bullet from the monster's gun and let Asuna dash up to its stomach, unloading a three-hit skill called «Trident Strike» into the monster's stomach. «Illfang» became more and more enraged, and launched another shot at Asuna. Kirito dashed in, intercepting the «Prediction Line» and deflecting the bullet with his «Pyrolith Anneal Blade». He blocked bullet after bullet until seven smacked him straight in the chest, sending him sprawling backwards into Asuna and fully depleting his shield.

Kirito felt Asuna getting up behind him and watched as his own HP bar fell to halfway. Kirito saw a shadow over his body and knew the Boss was right there. He didn't even look as «Illfang» raised his sword. He was going to die _right then and there_.

Just as Kirito heard the red Xylote charging his «Weapon Skill», he heard Agil yelling and charging one of his own. Kirito looked up just in time to see Agil hurtling through the air above him. He took the bullets in his stride, due to his heavy Energy Shield and slung a small stream of LMG bullets into the Sergeant's side.

"We can hold the bastard off until your health is back up!" Agil said as a small group of heavily armed troops-and Jace close behind, SMG blasting a multitude of rounds already-lumbered into battle with a behemoth of a monster.

"You guys…" Kirito breathed with a thankful look towards the massive man. He then watched as the giant and a small group of players unleashed bullet after bullet at the giant Xylote. «Illfang» was much faster than one would think, however, and dodged a good many of them. Then he leapt up and prepared to shoot downwards again at the others.

"Watch out!" Kirito shouted to them as he sprung forward to intercept «Illfang». "You're going down!" he shouted at the Sergeant as he sliced bullet after bullet in half, flying forward all the while. He clashed his blade against the gun and swung himself around the red beast, hacking deep into the Boss's back and sending him to the ground with a booming thud.

Kirito hit the ground, rolling forward and running ahead as he shouted "Come on Asuna! Help me beat this sucker! One last attack!"

"You got it," Asuna said as she ran forward with Kirito. They both ran with their chests low, barreling ahead at top speed as screams of fury rang from their throats. Kirito blocked a shot from «Illfang», and let Asuna strike with a hard «Trident Strike». Kirito followed up with a «Slant».

«Illfang» roared as his body began to glow red, symbolizing he was down to less than five percent of his total HP. Kirito took the chance to rush forward with a loud yell, and sliced up the Boss's body. He could feel the red flesh tearing beneath him as he traveled up the Xylote's body, sword in hand, until he finally soared high over «Illfang», sending him flying backwards until he exploded in a violent flurry of rainbow colored crystals.

There was a moment of silence where everyone stopped, as if waiting for another monster to appear. But as a massive system announcement that said _"Congratulations!"_ in big, white letters began floating in the air above them, one of the players shouted "W-We did it!" All around, people were cheering, screaming that they had _finally_ killed the Boss in the First first battle of the Xylotian Campaign of Aincrad.

Kirito knelt alone, just off to the side of the crowd of celebrating players. He read the system announcement that had popped up in front of him silently as he gasped for air. _"Congratulation: You got the last attacking bonus! BONUS ITEM: Coat of Midnight."_

From behind him, Kirito heard the words, "Good work," from Asuna. He then turned to see Agil, who was standing just beside her. The sight of the friendly giant was enough to bring a smile on Kirito's face, despite nearly being killed. The giant black man then said "That was a splendid job. Congratulations. Today's victory was all thanks to you."

"No," Kirito said quietly. But the cheers from others told him otherwise. Players had died–only one player, technically, but it had been _Diabel._ Now there would be no one to lead them into battle. Kibaou was too mean, Kirito was too much of a hot-head. This was not a victory.

"Stop cheering!" shouted Kibaou. Everything stopped as the crowd turned to face him. He sat, legs crossed with a look of pure anger on his face. He sat there for a moment in silence before whispering, "Why'd you do it, huh? Why'd you let Diabel die?"

"Let him die?" Kirito repeated, confused.

Kibaou's head snapped up, tears streaming down his face. "That's what I said!" He cried. "Admit it! You knew what technique the Boss was gonna use! You could have told us! Then Diabel would have stood a chance! He wouldn't have had to die!"

The crowd began to quietly murmur. The accusations Kibaou were making were pretty outrageous. There was no way Kirito _could_ have known what attack pattern «Illfang» would use. That information was unknown. Unless…

"I know why he knew!" one of the guys in the big group shouted. "He used to be a Beta Tester! Think about it! He knew the Boss's attack patterns! He _knew_, but he _kept_ it from us! And I bet he's not the only Beta Tester here, too. Come on, show yourselves!"

The crowd grew more and more restless. Soon, the Players began to turn on other Players, claiming that the other was a Beta Tester. It almost looked like everyone was literally going to start fighting in the middle of the Boss Room.

This was bad, Kirito thought. At this rate, it seemed that people were going to start attacking each other. At this rate, the other Beta Testers would be hunted down like witches from Salem in America. At this rate, there was no hope for them if the others decided that it was all the Beta Testers' faults.

"Hey," Agil said, physically blocking Kirito from Kibaou. "Calm down!"

"This is absurd, Kibaou!" Jace told the man, keeping an arm behind him to block Sinon from the raving lunatic. "You've stereotyped us beta testers, and not even to the majority. The odds that you find a beta tester that wouldn't help a new player, let alone_ kill_ one are about as high as the change of getting a PIG right out of Base Camp."

"Are you one of them too?" Kibaou asked, raising his LMG subconsciously as tensions soared. "If so, don't be a coward! Admit your crimes!"

As Sinon huddled behind Jace in fear, Kirito knew that everything was getting bad, out of control. If someone didn't do something quickly, Jace could have gotten hurt. And it seemed like Kirito was the only one in a position to make a move; he was the only one who was openly a beta tester. He had a plan, and it wasn't ideal... but it was now or never.

Kirito laughed quietly, just loud enough for the others to hear. He was shocked by its cruel sound, but it was what was needed if his plan was to work. It grew in volume and intensity until the sound coming from his lips was akin to that of a witch's evil cackle. "So you guys think I used to be a Beta Tester," he said coldly. "It's not cool to put me in the same class with _those_ noobs."

Kibaou's confused voice came from the crowd. "W-What'd you say?"

"You heard me," Kirito said, getting up and walking to the crowd. "Most of the thousand people who scored a slot in GWO's beta were rookies. They were so green, they didn't even know how to level up. Hell, even _you_ guys were better than they were. But me? I'm _nothing_ like _those_ guys, man. During the Beta, I made it to floors that were higher than any of the other testers. That's a fact. I knew about the Boss 'cause I fought tons of monsters with way more «Weapon Skills» on higher floors! I know a bunch of other things too; more than you can imagine. More than any info broker."

"W-what the hell?" Kibaou uttered in shock. "If that's true, then you're worse than a beta tester! You're a goddamn cheater, that's what you are!"

"He's a beta tester _and_ a cheater!" one voice said as the crowd erupted in anger. "He's a _beater!_"

"A Beater…" Kirito said quietly, but loud enough that the crowd could hear. He continued, pulling up his inventory to get to the Coat of Midnight. "Yeah, that's good. I like it. Okay. From now on, you can call me a Beater. Just sure you don't confuse me with those beta testers anymore." With the last word, Kirito equipped the coat and let it materialize around his shoulder, wrapping him in the darkness that would eventually mark him as the Black Swordsman and the Beater. Then he walked away, allowing his footsteps to echo behind him.

As he climbed the stairs at the far end of the room to reach the roof, where Kirito would activate the teleporter and then teleport back down from, he heard Asuna running up behind him. "Wait," she said. After Kirito stopped moving, she went on. "When we were fighting the boss, you called me by my name."

"I wasn't trying to be rude," Kirito said quietly. "Did I mess up the pronunciation?"

"How did you even know it?" the girl asked.

Kirito raised his index finger. "If you look right about here, you'll see another HP gauge written under yours. There's a name written right next to it, yeah?"

Asuna squinted a bit and mumbled "Ki-ri-to. Kirito? Your name's Kirito."

"Yeah."

Asuna closed her eyes and chuckled. "I'm so dumb. It was there the whole time, and I never knew!"

Kirito turned away. "You can become powerful here on your own. But if the day comes when someone you trust invites you to join an Army, don't turn it down. 'Cause there are limits to what a solo player can do."

"But you're solo," Asuna said in confusion.

The raven-haired boy frowned and disbanded the Squadron with him and Asuna, ignoring her with pain in his heart. He then opened the door to the roof of the Command Center and stepped outside. He would have to face the hate from the others, but if everyone else was safe, that was okay with him.

* * *

Author's Notes

In this section, I'm going to talk about a few things: the comment about Suguha, Diabel's monologue and the crowd's reaction, Kibaou's monologue, Agil's monologue, Jace's… weirdness, the bath scene, Campaign dialogue, the abrupt ending, and finally, the notes about the story as a whole.

In the beginning, I briefly mention the KazutoxSuguha ship. I don't _not_ ship it like one may think, but I want to keep things somewhat close to canon. That's why I use the direct quotes from long monologues and such. God bless you if you ship KazutoxSuguha, God bless you if you don't. I just thought I'd add some of the insight.

Speaking of monologues, let's talk about the monologues in the amphitheater scene. Those are taken directly from the anime and only adjusted to make it relevant to the story. For example, instead of «Illfang, the Kobold Lord» the name was adjusted to «Sergeant Illfang». I changed that specifically because Kobolds are fantastical creatures that one may find in Dungeons in Dragons, not homoreptilliae one could possibly find on another planet. So other than a few minor changes to make the monologues relevant, the monologues given by Diabel, Kibaou, and Agil are all accurate to the anime.

The amphitheater scene breaks canon when Jace arrives with Sinon–Jace is a main character and a _leader_ in the story, so it would be impossible to add him without letting him be a background character. As for the slapstick-like trip, Jace is a bit clumsy despite his high «Dexterity» stat, especially in very serious situations. Essentially, he isn't perfect.

The dialogue between Kirito and Asuna at dinner is from the bread scene in «Tolbana». Also canon. Had a bit of trouble working it in at the table, but I felt that it was a tad bit necessary. Especially since I'm trying to make an accurate account of all of the canon happenings in the anime. Hopefully I can set them so that they all happen through Kirito's eyes.

The dialogue in the first Campaign is also accurate. Kirito's thought monologue about Asuna is just about the same as in the anime, and the things said are pretty much–if not completely–canonical. Kirito is also the only Beater in this story because that's a title that only Kirito should have in my opinion, and I think that making an OC a Beater is really corny. (No offense anyone that's made an OC a Beater.)

The ending to this chapter was abrupt, but it was just as abrupt in the anime. So… well no need to dwell any more on that.

Now onto the notes of the story as a whole. I have noticed that since the last chapter, most of my reviews have been simply OC Applications. So from now on, I will not be accepting OC Applications in the reviews section. I'd much rather have actual reviews than OC apps. I will still accept OC's, but only as posts on the GWO Thread in the SAO Fandom Nexus or as PM's.

Also, I finished this chapter on Veteran's Day. But since I posted the second chapter exactly one month after the first, I figure it might be better to keep to a schedule. I got grounded on thanksgiving though, so I couldn't post it on the second. I will post Chapter four though– which is completed on the second of January.

Speaking of the GWO thread in the SAO Fandom Nexus, I would highly advise leaving questions about the story there or ideas for the story. I will give credit and answer any questions on the forum if possible.

Fourth, I'm willing to write individual boss fights if wanted, but I kinda doubt that that's what y'all want from the story. So I don't think I'll write every one. I do plan to do a fair amount, though, and I plan to make them use less weaponry as they become higher levels.

Thanks for reading! Ask me anything on the SAO Fandom Nexus thread if I didn't answer anything.

Terms

**Aincrad:** The fictional quadrant in space where Galactic Warfare Online is set

**Ianides:** The first continent in Aincrad

**Xylote: **The most common type of mob in the game, humanoid lizards that inhabit the planet of Aincrad.

**Col:** The currency of the IGAF

**Xylose:** The language of the Xylotes

**IGAF: **International Galactic Armed Forces

**LMG:** Light Machine Gun

Kirito's Game Data

**Level: **24

**HP:** 1,400

**Col:** 37,056

**Pyrolith Anneal Blade-** A variant of the Plasmid Sword, used by a group of beta testers called the School of Swordsmen. Not ideal for use without hours of practice.

**Isodex Infiltrator-** Entry level pistol with low stats; ideal for players below level 14. Real counter-part, M1911.

**Black Jeans-** Black Jeans with no stat boost.

**Black IGAF Shirt-** Black shirt with the IGAF Insignia on the chest.

**Coat of Midnight-** Black long-coat with studded shoulders. The Last Attack Bonus from the first Planetary Boss, «Sergeant Illfang».

**Kryptus Type 2-** Mid-level Energy Shield available on Ianides. Has a low health, but gives the wearer a +6 DEX boost. Ideal for players below level 16.

Skill Slots: 8

Skills (Basic Mastery 0-249 pts, Advanced Mastery 250-499 pts, Proficient Mastery 500-749 pts, Expert Mastery 750-999 pts, Mastered 1000 pts)

**Plasmid Sword- **Makes the player more proficient in the use of Plasmid Sword-type weapons. 203

**Sprint- **Allows the player to sprint forward a set distance at superhuman speeds. 145

**Regeneration- **Allows the player to regenerate a set amount of health every ten seconds. 213

**Extended Weight Limit- **Allows the player to carry more weight on their person. 178

**Perception- **Allows the player to find other players using the «Stealth» skill. 137

**Acrobatics- **Allows the player to perform acrobatic techniques. 83

**Unarmed- **Allows the player to inflict large amounts of damage with their hands. 96

**Stealth- **Allows the player to hide from other players easier. 412


	4. The Four Pages

Disclaimer: I appreciate and honor the fact that you are taking the time to read my story. I thank you for any reviews, follows, and favorites. Please enjoy this story after the following disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own any of its characters. Sword Art Online belongs to Reki Kawahara, ASCII Media Works, and the SAO Project. Please support the official release.

Character Ages

Kirito- 16

Asuna- 17

Sinon- 16

Jace- 17

* * *

Chapter 4

Monday, December 10th, 2022. Continent: Ianides. Outside of Asfos.

The morning was fresh and dewy. The scent of post-dawn grass rose to Sinon's nose and made her slightly drowsy, but the girl quickly shrugged it off. She was working on distance shooting that day. As she hefted up her new sniper, the «Pyrolith Giat», she heard Jace whistling over the system link–their signal for saying that Jace had formed a train of mobs behind him.

Sinon slowed her breath and adjusted her heart-rate. In a whisper she began to recite her mantra: "Ice. I am ice incarnate. Slow breaths, no emotions, and _no fear_. Just raising, aiming, and maiming. One shot, one kill." She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly, seeing her breath fog up in the air in front of her. Then she looked down the scope and focused on her target: the horde of «Feral Felines» behind her companion. She was training for a mission in the next major city, called «The Ghillie of Babel».

"Target is 1500 meters out, headed closer," Sinon told herself, waiting for the critical moment when the beasts would arrive at only one click–1000 meters–from her current position, on the top of a small cliff to the north of the city that was «Asfos». She would only have to wait a few more seconds, but it was agonizing to just sit here–especially while Jace was out there risking his life to help her train for the mission.

She noticed the Aiming Circle expanding and quickly forced herself to focus on shrinking the circle. The target was only 1400 meters away from Sinon now, and they were picking up speed slowly as Jace was slowing down. She felt her heart starting to pick up again. Something was horribly wrong. What was he doing?

"Jace, come in. What's your trouble?" Sinon asked curtly through the system link.

Jace didn't respond, but kept running and began to fire his «Plasmid Specter» at the feline beasts behind him. He ended up taking down two and injuring three more, but that left many more right behind him. It looked like he had bitten off more than he could chew–especially with a new Energy Shield that didn't exude a «Paralysis» effect when it depleted; he had gotten a newer shield with a higher amount Shield Points.

As it was, Jace was struggling hard just to keep his head above water. Bullet after bullet found its target, but monster after monster kept coming. It was getting to the point that the more Jace ran, the more it looked like all was hopeless, and it was starting to get to Sinon.

Her Aiming Circle was large, taking up almost ten percent of her vision. It seemed small, but with her targets this far away, it engulfed the entirety of the mob–including Jace–and she couldn't make a shot with the risks so high. She could hit Jace, and though they had formed a Squadron which would protect them from accidental friendly fire, it would still drive the blonde boy unconscious. Jace couldn't do much running _or_ fighting if he was passed out on the ground.

Jace used his «Sprint» skill to rocket forward before turning around for a brief moment. Then he opened his menu and clicked something. His SMG disappeared and then a moment later, a small object fell into his hand. He fiddled with it for a moment and tossed it forward, letting it bounce off of the rocky terrain between him and the monsters.

As soon as the monsters reached the object, there was a bright flash that caused the «Feral Felines» to slow to a painfully slow speed as they moved in a manner that made them appear to be highly disoriented. Sinon then heard Jace's voice come over the system. "This is about a click, give or take?"

Sinon glanced at the scope and judged the distance. It was around a hundred or so meters too far away, but she could make it. "You're getting sloppy," she grunted. "It's closer to twelve-fifty meters than ten hundred."

As soon as she got her heart rate under control, Sinon shot a bullet as a test, aiming a good fifty meters above her target. She noted the amount that the bullet fell and adjusted until she was just at the right height to take out the individual felines. She hit each of the Xylotian monsters in their weak spots–right where the ear met the head on the feline creatures. After about ten seconds, the flash wore off and Sinon began to snipe them as they ran at Jace again. This time, the blonde was far enough away that she could shoot without worrying about him getting killed or in the way of a bullet. And as the last of the «Feral Felines» was eliminated, Sinon breathed easier and acquired several new items–along with a few hundred Col.

"I'm coming back up," Jace told his companion. "Wait there and guard me."

"Roger," Sinon muttered, picking her rifle back up and watching Jace through it. How could the boy be so stupid as to risk his life like that and not even consider how uncomfortable it made her? If he died, she would lose her mentor–and a close friend too.

Sinon waited for him to get to the cliff's face and then decided that he could climb up without being watched. She would just scan the ground for signs of movement from any threat. If there was another mob, she'd kill it. Her only worry was that there would be a player.

As soon as Kayaba had announced that people could die in this game, the death system was reset. People that died before just respawned, but now their avatars were deleted after ten minutes. After those ten minutes, the players had their brains fried by the Nervegears. And as time passed, more and more of those players died. In a month, Jace and Argo had come to the conclusion that two thousand were dead. Of the 23,000 people remaining, it was a logical assumption that about three thousand had stayed in Base Camp, knowing that they would not survive if they ventured out into the world of the aliens. That left twenty thousand other players that went out and had combat experience. And according to surveillance by a large Army (called the «Aincrad Liberation Force», or «The Army» for short) that had developed since the first floor was cleared, one out of every twenty players had committed a crime that turned their player cursor orange at least once. With the stats the way they were, the «Army» had released the information that there were about 800 fully criminal players on Ianides. And with 800 still alive, that meant a lot of bad people hiding amongst the good.

So far, Sinon had managed to quell her fear of guns by telling herself that she wasn't truly killing anything, but keeping herself alive by gaining the resources from the Xylotes and Monsters that lived here. But with more and more criminal players on the loose, Sinon could find herself in the position where she might need to kill another player someday. And that, the fear of killing another real, living being, was the thing that truly scared her.

But in her brain, just as Shino opened the door to try and regain her consciousness, Sinon stepped in front of the door and slammed it shut, placing a large horizontal beam through the handles of the double doors. Shino Asada was still locked deep within Sinon's mind to protect her from this cold world of death and agony.

Just as Sinon finished the thought, Jace's hand clasped the edge of the cliff's top. "Well, not just death and agony," Sinon said under her breath with a smile. Then she watched as the tall boy collapsed on the ground in front of her and began panting like a thirsty dog in the desert.

"Sorry about not answering your question, Sinon," Jace breathed, wiping the sweat off of his forehead and reminding Sinon that she was angry at him. "I would have answered, but I needed to concentrate on getting away from those things. They aren't too strong, but they could wear down my brand new shield's durability… it can only hit 0 SP a hundred times after all, and–"

"Whatever," Sinon said, cutting the boy off. "The most important thing is to stay alive, Jace. Above all, stay alive. And when you go and bite off more than you can chew with a rape train of twenty mobs, you're abandoning that rule."

Jace frowned, apparently trying to read her. Sinon had made sure that her voice showed no sign of anger, but she hadn't mastered keeping the anger off of her face yet. It ended up making her look slightly constipated, which the girl thought was close enough to angry. But her façade had not paid off; the look that he gave her told her that he knew that she was not calm and collected, but didn't say anything else. He simply nodded and turned away before she got angrier. "Alright," he said quietly, putting his gun back on his back strap.

Sinon sighed. She knew she had come across coldly. He _was_ just trying to help her, and he was her only friend in all of Aincrad. But neither of those two things would do her any good if he was dead. "Wait," she said, grabbing his hand.

Jace jerked to a halt, freezing rigidly as soon as the girl grabbed his hand. He slowly looked down at their hands for a moment and then eased his hand out from Sinon's. "What's up?" He asked, turning back to the girl.

"I'm sorry," she sighed. "I was harsh with you."

"That's not new," Jace said with a soft smirk. "In fact, it happens a lot."

Sinon couldn't help but smile as the boy joked with her. "My hand is gonna be harsh with your face in a minute," she teased. Her remark made Jace laugh, and she smiled at the sound. "Come on, let's get back to town. We need to stock up."

)-0-(

There were many things that Sinon liked about «Asfos».

The first was that «Asfos» was a small town. The buildings didn't look neofuturistic, which Sinon thought was nice. «Nefaria», though quite a sight to behold, was terribly overwhelming and came across as more of a New York City type place, with no room to live. With houses and buildings made of stone instead of the black metal the city of «Nefaria» was built from, «Asfos» was much more quaint and homey.

Secondly, the atmosphere of the whole place. The town was built on a grassy plateau with yellow and orange wildflowers spread all over like a beautiful pathogen. The edges of the plateau were made of brown rock and formed cliffs except for a few passes that were covered with those same wildflowers. It reminded her of the Japanese countryside, comfortable and inviting.

Another reason that she liked here was the fact that she could see for what felt like miles from the top of the plateau. From anywhere on the plateau one could see the serene «Oaken Glade», the roaring «Sea of Ambrose», the mysterious «Ethereal Highlands». All of the landmarks just made her feel at ease, comforting her in a way that nothing else ever could while she was still in this game.

All in all, Sinon thought it was a wonderful place that she hoped to one day call her home–since she couldn't exactly call Earth home for a while.

Jace snapped his fingers twice in front of the girl's eyes. "You're staring into space again, Sinon," he said quietly. "We're only going to be here for a few hours, so we should get busy with supplies. I'm going to buy ammo at the store over there; do you need anything?"

"Asking me if I need ammo is pointless," she responded. "I always need ammo."

"Well do you want to come with me or just tell me what to get?"

Sinon didn't even bother to think about going with Jace to the ammo store. She was getting sick of the clothes that she had worn since the first day she had logged on. It was time for her to change her style to something more fitting to who she wanted to be: a strong warrior who could kill in a heartbeat if she needed to. She looked at the blonde boy and shook her head. "Get me some «Photon Packs». I'm going to get rid of these stupid clothes."

Jace smiled maliciously. "Eager to strip are we?"

Sinon's cheeks grew a bright shade of red as the blonde boy winked devilishly at her. She couldn't believe he said something like that in public. "_You wish!_" she shouted, slapping him hard across his face before storming off to the sound of his chuckles.

As she walked toward the store, she found that her cheeks would not cool down. She didn't feel like she was still angry at the boy; she had heard many dirty remarks before, even from Jace. But for some reason, she felt… embarrassed by the way he had winked at her. He certainly hadn't done that before, and that had flustered her a deep bit. She ignored the boy's remark, flushing it from her head, and then focused on the subject at hand: the clothing store that stood right in front of her.

The store that was labeled «Ashley's» wasn't a _big_ store, but it certainly wasn't a shack. It had a nicely lit sign that wasn't too obnoxious, but had enough of a "wow-factor" to pull in customers. She could see a multitude of mannequins on display through the store's clean windows wearing clothes that ranged from booty shorts and t-shirts to wedding dresses to various sets of combat gear.

Sinon walked inside and was instantly greeted by a girl named (surprise, surprise) Ashley–who, to Sinon's great surprise, was not an NPC. Oddly enough, she had bought her own store building near the front lines of the Xylotian War, which most people didn't do unless they found the perfect place. She was tall and slim with heavy eye shadow that brought out her deep green eyes as well as her short blonde pixie cut accented by red highlights.

Even more shocking than her physical appearance were the clothes she wore. She was dressed in clothes that made her seem like she was not a soldier at _all_. In fact, Sinon thought that Ashley looked more like a high end fashion model than anything else. She had a red jacket with a leathery neck–a gorget, Sinon would learn it was later called–and a feather boa. As for her pants, she was wearing what appeared to be a tight pair of leggings that were styled to look like they were made of denim.

"Can I help you find anything today?" The girl asked in a French-sounding voice that was much higher pitched than Sinon had expected. Her eyes shimmered with what appeared to be the desire to help and she had a big smile plastered on her face. "We have a small sale today on jeggings!"

Sinon briefly wondered what the hell jeggings were before nodding. "I'm looking for something less… standard," she answered, pulling at her shirt between her fingers. Tan was okay, but she got tired of it after a while. "I want to stand out."

"Well," Ashley mumbled thoughtfully. "Do you want to stand out by looking like a warrior or like a stripper?"

Sinon almost choked as the player asked the question. "Excuse me?"

"Well if you want something to make you look like a warrior, I have something in mind," she explained with bright eyes. "If you want to look like a sexy lady, I also have something. But if you want both, I know exactly what would be perfect for you. The perfect mix of scary and sexy, intimidating and intriguing. It is the suit of a warrior, but the weapon of a lover."

Whatever this thing looked like, Sinon's curiosity had been piqued. She cocked her head to the side. "Could I see it?" she asked the girl, receiving a nod from Ashley and waiting for her to get the outfits. It didn't take long though; Sinon was just about to sit down when Ashley came back with a small bag and told the girl to take the bag into a dressing room and try on the clothes.

Sinon pulled out the clothes one by one. There was an Olive Drab jacket with white accents, black short shorts, a white scarf, and a set of leggings to match the jacket. When she put them on and looked in the mirror, she couldn't help but be taken aback by how she looked. All over her body were patches of skin that showed through the various cuts of the uniform. She could feel the air kissing her thighs, her hips, the tops of her chest. Her first thought was that she looked like a warrior, but then she looked at the suggestive design. It wasn't what she had come in looking for, but it was _everything_ that she needed for Sinon to become the warrior that she had envisioned.

Sinon stepped out and looked at Ashley with her jaw hanging in awe. "You made this?"

"Yep!" she giggled, holding up two fingers in a V shape. "Is it everything you wanted?"

"Kind of, yeah," Sinon breathed, looking at herself again. "How much does it cost?"

"Well, I'd give it to you if you'd advertise for me, but I'm guessing that you'd prefer to pay for it," Ashley said, chewing on her thumbnail thoughtfully. "So that particular outfit is one of my better ones, but it didn't take too much to make. It's got a lot of durability and has a pretty good amount of protection, despite all the skin spots. So if you tell anyone that asks that I sold it to you, then it should come to around… ten thousand Col, give or take."

Sinon felt her eyes bug on impulse. She liked the gear, but she didn't know if she still liked it at 10,000 Col. "Ten thousand Col is a bit steep for me… what about five?"

Instantly a strange smile flashed across her face and a fire lit in Ashley's eyes that burned brighter than the muzzle of Sinon's sniper rifle. "A haggler, are you?" Ashley asked in a voice that seemed several octaves lower than her usual voice. "The materials alone for this outfit cost me five thousand Col. Since it looks so good on you, I'll go eight and a half, but keep in mind that I'd be breaking bank for you."

Sinon felt a shiver down her back. "I don't want to go much higher than seven on anything that is completely vital to my survival," she said reluctantly. "I'll go ten for two outfits: this one and something in sleepwear."

"I have to make money somehow, miss!" Ashley groaned. "I'll tell you what: I'll give you the outfit and some saucy undergarments for a grand total of eighty-two fifty. This is my final offer."

Sinon blushed. What the hell could she use "saucy undergarments" for? It's not like there was anyone in her life who would even be in proximity of her to see them except maybe–no. Sinon blushed even darker at the thought of Jace seeing her in underwear of _any_ kind until she came across a thought: Ashley's highlights. "What about nine for the outfit and some icy blue hair dye?" She asked.

Ashley's eyes lit up. "Ah, you wish to dye your hair?" she squealed, back in her regular voice. "Very well. I will sell you them both and change your hair color for only nine thousand Col. And as a gift, I will throw in the spicy underwear! Aren't you happy?"

Sinon blushed and nodded. She thought it was better not to argue with Ashley. After all, even if she would be getting… _that_ as a gift, she could still throw it away. "Very happy," Sinon said with a very bad smile as the other girl turned away to retrieve a canister of hair dye. The girl came back with six though, cradling them like a small kitten that was in six pieces.

"I have a wide selection of icy blue colors here; which do you want?" Ashley asked before raising the cans individually. "I have Turquoise, Celeste, Electric Blue, Cyan, Sky Blue, and Baby Blue."

Sinon looked at them all individually before deciding on Celeste. Then Ashley took her to a dressing room where the girl applied the dye to Sinon's hair as she purchased her outfit. It disappeared into her inventory before the girl pulled up the newest item: «Sexy Commando Outfit». She groaned, but put it on anyway. Maybe she could pay someone to rename the item in the system as something less provocative, like «Sinon's Suit» perhaps.

"Can you make my eyes Turquoise?" Sinon asked on a whim. "It would be beneficial to me if you could, but if you couldn't that would be alright too."

Ashley sighed heavily and began chewing on her lip. "I could, but there's a tiny–insignificant, really–detail when it comes to changing eye color in Galactic Warfare Online. I mean, it's possible but you can only use hair dye. And the only thing about that–which, like I said, isn't really a problem at all–is that it hurts your eyes… like, a lot."

"How much does it hurt?" Sinon asked. "On a scale of one to ten."

Ashley pursed her lips for a moment, thinking about it. "Well, one of my customers said it was about a six, but I tried and I thought it was a solid seven and a half."

"Hit me up," Sinon said without surprise. Ashley hesitated, but pulled out the canister and sprayed some of it in the girl's eye. She felt a white hot sting in her eye, but she just shut it and waited. It went away after about ten seconds, and then Ashley did the other eye. The same feeling occurred before Sinon opened both of her eyes, and then stared at herself.

Sinon could barely recognize herself anymore. Where only ten minutes ago her eyes were charcoal grey, they were now a shocking icy blue to match her hair, which had been the same color. Her clothes made her look like a woman–and one to be feared, instead of just a noob in the game of GWO. She had completely changed herself into the woman she had wanted to be when she first logged in, minus a few inches.

"Miss, what is your name?" Ashley asked. Sinon as she checked herself out. After she told the woman her name, the tall seamstress nodded. "Would you mind coming back here every now and then? I'll pay you a nice price to model for us…"

Sinon blushed. "Oh Ashley, I couldn't–"

"Nonsense!" Ashley said, waving a hand as if to bat away her refusal. "Just use your MT and come over on Saturdays. We go on the runway at three o'clock, so be there at 2:30 for hair and make-up. Okay? Wonderful. No shoo, get out of the door, I have other customers to attend to!" And with that, Ashley pushed her out the door and directly into someone outside of the door.

Sinon crashed into the boy with an "oomph" and fell on top of him. She felt her head hit a strong chest and the boy gasped. She recognized the boy's jacket though… It was white with blue words written in Xylose. She looked up into the boy's bright green eyes and stared for a moment.

"Looks like I'm falling for you, miss," Jace said with a cheesy grin. "My name is Jace, and I'd help you up, but you're kind of on top of me."

"I know, Jace," she said, suddenly taking notice of how close their faces were and pushing herself up against his chest. "Did you get the ammo?"

Jace's eyes widened. "How did you know that I just got back from the ammo store?" He asked, jumping up and reaching for his pistol. "And why do you look like a hot version of my partner, but with blue hair and eyes?"

"Because I _am_ Sinon," the girl huffed, trying to mask her pleased embarrassment with a punch to his gut. "And I've always been hot! Just because I didn't dress like a slut doesn't mean I wasn't hot! And I still don't! Don't be such a pervert!"

Jace fell backwards to the ground with a "humph" as he felt his butt connecting with the dirt road. "Ouch," he mumbled as his hand found its way to his right cheek where there was the red mark of a small hand. "And you didn't have to hit me, you know!"

"Where are we headed now?" Sinon asked, taking his hand and pulling him up to her level. "I want to get to «Babel» _sometime_ soon."

"Someone's mighty impatient. Maybe I just won't tell you." Jace grumbled. But as Sinon shot him an angry glare, he relented and opened his map. He then pointed to a spot directly across the mountains from their position. "This spot right here is the final mission we need to unlock «Ghillie of Babel»… aside from clearing the city of «Babel» and killing the Sergeant, that is. The easiest way there would be to teleport to «Violetville» and backtrack, but I don't know if we could make it in time for the Second Clearing.

"Then again, we could take «Thief's Pass» in the mountains, but there are a lot of really high leveled monsters there and it could take us a day or two. If we rush, we can get to «Violetville» quickly, find and complete the mission and head back here, but we're called to the frontlines on Wednesday. So if we can't complete the mission by 9:00 PM on Tuesday, we'll have to do it another time."

Sinon thought for a moment. If they teleported to «Violetville» now, they would have a longer way to travel, one that could take up until about noon tomorrow. Then they would have about four or five hours to finish the mission. They could probably do it, but they would have to teleport back to «Asfos» right after. Then it could take the rest of daylight and into the night to reach the city of «Babel» before the Clearing.

The route that took «Thief's Pass» was much quicker. They could likely arrive at the mission's target by that night. They would have from morning to evening to complete the mission, but the path would be dangerous. When Jace mentioned "higher leveled Xylotes," he usually meant monsters in the Level 15-20 range–which meant that Sinon might have to shoot _some_ targets twice, even with her new «Pyrolith Giat».

Sinon knew that taking the pass would be much more dangerous, especially for a mere level twenty like her, but she felt pulled to the «Ethereal Highlands» like it was a magnet. Very few people had adventured up to its peaks, and there was very little information about it. Even Argo knew very little about the place,

"Let's take «Thief's Pass»," Sinon said with determination. She clenched her fist at her side as she thought about what she might encounter. Even though her journey through GWO with Jace had started more than a month ago, she felt the visceral lurching that she only got when she went on a new adventure, one that Jace didn't know everything about. And now, it was _her_ adventure.

)-0-(

Sinon huffed as they stepped onto the road from «Thief's Pass». The whole thing had been a disappointment. They hadn't come across a single Xylote the whole way up, and they were already halfway down the mountain. Granted, that meant that they would have plenty of time to complete the mission, but Sinon had been so excited about this mountain pass and _nothing_ had happened. Even the conversation with Jace had been relatively boring; he had been so focused on watching the path ahead that he hadn't even noticed when she'd thrown random phrases into the conversation (such as banana, quokka, African salt miner).

At around 8:00 PM, the duo arrived at a small forest with a winding dirt path. It flowed like a tiny stream through the forest, snaking its way around the brush and trees much like an old country road back in Japan. Sinon had to admit, it was a frightening looking area with the dead black trees that scratched against each other in the shallow breeze. She unconsciously inched closer to Jace, feeling comfort as soon as she had come close the boy.

"Well, we're here," Jace sighed. "The «Black Forest»."

The «Black Forest» was by far the scariest area that Sinon had been in. Even the «Lunar Mines» didn't scare her as much as the glade she currently stood before. Perhaps it was because she could see the enemy, perhaps it was because Jace thought he knew what he was up against in the mine, perhaps it was because even the sun hid behind the clouds when they arrived at the edge of the grove. But now, as Sinon and Jace entered the forest, she wished that she could see through the thick, murky branches, or at _least_ that Jace had told her what could come from the shadows of the foliage.

"I wonder what's in here," Jace wondered aloud, taking a courageous step inside the forest.

Sinon whimpered and grabbed Jace's hand. "Wait!" she screamed, looking just as surprised as Jace when he turned around. Quickly she blurted out the first thing on her mind. "It's spooky in there."

Immediately Sinon looked down at the dirt path in front of her and felt her cheeks growing warm. Of all the adjectives to describe the forest–eerie, creepy, sketchy, terrifying, horrific, grotesque, even scary–she had chosen the most childish word in the entire dictionary: spooky.

Thankfully, it didn't look like Jace had picked up on–or at least chosen to criticize– her choice of words. He merely glanced back at the tree-line, scanning it for god-knows-what. "It's not too bad, really," he said looking back at Sinon's astonished expression. "I mean, I'm not saying I'd like to build a summer home here, but the trees are actually _quite_ lovely."

Sinon shook her head in disbelief, shocked that the boy was so calm while staring this monstrous fortress of pitch-dark wood down. The girl hadn't even thought about entering, and Jace was already waist deep in black brush and brambles. How was she supposed to just shut off her fears like Jace did when she was somewhere _this damn creepy_?

She tried to call for him, but for some reason, her throat wouldn't let her. Inside her head, she could feel Shino tearing from her shackles, breaking from the prison she had been trapped in, pushing Sinon out of the way and locking the warrior inside of the cage. Her voice came out in a near whisper, shaky and breathy. "Jace," she called quietly to the boy, desperation apparent in her quivering breaths.

She knew Jace had turned around and was looking at her, but she refused to look up from the ground. The boy walked over to her and put two fingers under her chin, causing her to fidget, but not quite recoil. The boy angled her chin up so that he could look into her eyes. She tried to ignore it, but she just couldn't help but look at him. His deep green eyes were piercing soulfully into hers, and she couldn't keep the heat in her cheeks from rising further. She could feel her heartbeat in her _ears_, and she was sure that she was sweating everywhere. The only sounds were the cricketing chirps of a few «Martial Mantises».

"I'll be right here," Jace said. "Nothing will hurt you while I'm around. I promise, Sinon."

Shino felt an electrical shiver race down her spine as the boy's deep voice reached her ears. It was an experience she'd never felt before, except for once when a boy she had liked said that she looked nice that day. But this was different. She didn't like Jace, she was just horribly scared of the forest and Jace's voice was comforting to her. That was normal with any friend; Kyouji had comforted her with his presence plenty of times before, and she thought of him more as an acquaintance. Jace was a true friend of hers. And it was perfectly normal to grab a friend's hand when one was afraid, Shino decided, grabbing Jace's hand.

Jace walked forward with Shino slowly, hand in hand as the girl peeked around his shoulder. The girl snuck quietly behind him, taking care to only step in his footsteps like it would make Monsters go away. They continued walking through the forest for what felt to Sinon like twenty minutes, although she knew it could have only been around five.

Shino glanced up at Jace fearfully. The way he just stared ahead was so… strong. There was nothing that he seemed to be afraid of. During his battle with «Jeer-Lan», she had watched him stare at the Sergeant while he prepared to fight to the death. That was the kind of strength that she logged in to find, that was the strength that she needed to become Sinon in her everyday life. That was what she wanted to become.

When she looked down, she found that they were arriving at a clearing. In the clearing was a small trailer with a page attached to the door: the object that set the mission in motion. The mission started as soon as a Squadron member picked up the page. There were many scattered in the «Black Forest», and each one seemed to get more and more frightening. Only when all of them were collected would one be able to gather the hints as to where the item that ended the mission was. As Jace stepped forward to the page, she looked at his face, seeing that it was one of discomfort.

"Sinon," Jace said quietly. "Out of all the missions in the Beta Test, this mission was the hardest one. The Boss is almost impossible to defeat, and you literally have to ignore him to survive long enough to complete the mission. I'm giving this option to back out, not out of fear, but because you are smart. There is a difference in running and retreating, and this would be the latter."

Shino felt a chill run through her back for the second time in the past ten minutes, but this time the feeling was completely different. She felt like something was watching her from the trees, sizing her up and evaluating if she would be a good meal or not. It was a terrifying feeling. But Sinon had already decided the answer. This was necessary. Inside of her head, Shino retreated back into the prison, allowing Sinon to step forward and speak out loud. "Let's roll," she said, putting on her icy mask once more.

Jace picked up the page and turned it to show Sinon. In large, scratchy letters was the phrase "HELP ME" underlined three times. Sinon then noticed a timer appear on the screen. The numbers began to decrease and Sinon realized it was counting down from 15 minutes. Beside the timer, there was a small note that said "1/4" with a sheet of paper to its left.

Jace looked troubled. "Sinon," he said quietly, beginning to walk forward to a crossroad in the middle of the clearing, looking betwixt the three routes in what appeared to be the subtlest hint of fear. "This was never a timed mission. They changed it, just like in «Lunar Cave» and I'm not sure that we'll be able to do this."

The look in Jace's eyes horrified Sinon, but she tried her best to ignore the quaking in her stomach. "We pick the path to the left," she said, walking past him. "The «Black Forest» is ovular, so if we head clockwise, we should be able to work the mission in a logical way. The main landmarks will most likely be on the paths, meaning the pages will probably be there as opposed to random trees in the forest."

As soon as she finished her sentence, she heard something akin to static. Jace must have heard it to because he turned to Sinon quickly. "Whatever you do, don't look at anything that you see. Look for the pages, but don't search for anything in the distance. If you do, it'll attack."

"What will?" Sinon asked, her heart pounding in her chest. "What will attack me?"

Just then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a freakishly tall figure through the trees, edging closer. It made no effort to hide, just seemingly gliding forward. The only reason she could see it was because its skin was so pale. It contrasted infinitely to its black suit, but the white shirt was the thing that stood out the most–or second most rather. The thing that stood out the most was that it had no face. It didn't show you faintest trace of a pair of eyes, there was no crack in its jaw to form a mouth, no pink to color its lips. It didn't even have a nose; the Monster's head was literally just a white ellipsoid–shadowed, pale, and horribly featureless.

Sinon's eyes snapped shut and she turned away. "It's over there," she whispered in terror.

"Don't look at it," he said, hurrying forward along the path to another small clearing with a smallish blue truck. "Just focus on grabbing the pages and running from the «Slenderman». If you don't look at it, it doesn't attack. If you do, it's all over."

Sinon nodded and opened her eyes, looking down at the path. "Jace, the forest is an oval right? So if we go clockwise, there's less of a chance of us getting lost," she suggested.

"Right," Jace agreed, turning to dash down the path farthest to the left. "There should be a broken down semi in the next area, hopefully there will be a page there!"

The two dashed, heads to the ground down the path to the next clearing. The tanker was there alright, along with a single page stuck to its side. Along the top was the phrase "Always Watches", scrawled in dark letters followed by a circle with two X's at the sides. Underneath, the words "no eyes" were scratched under the drawing. She had only seen the Field Boss once, and it had already become her worst nightmare. And she still had two pages to go according to the quest marker in the upper right-hand corner of her vision. So Sinon made an executive decision to ignore reason and instead sprinted away down the first path she saw.

"Wait, Sinon!" Jace called, but Sinon had already scurried about 50 meters from his position. She could hear her breath coming in shallow gasps that only made her heart-rate rise faster. And the sight of a creepy building in front of her only made it that much worse.

The structure in front of her was a simple one, square and made of rust colored bricks. There was an open doorway–the door had long since been ripped off its hinges evidently, as there was a single hinge still connected to the doorframe at the top–that showed a dirty floor with many dirty-colored spots. Red was prominent, and Sinon sincerely hoped that she was not seeing blood spatters all over the floor. Of course, the way it seemed to gleam in the moonlight made it almost certainly evident that the red on the floor was a liquid, but a girl could hope, couldn't she?

Sinon had bolted inside of the open hall and pressed her body against a wall, waiting for Jace to come into the room when she realized why the atmosphere was so frightening. Other than her footsteps, breaths, and pounding heartbeat, the «Black Forest» was silent as the grave. The animals had stopped calling out, proclaiming their life. The only noises in the world came from Jace and Sinon, and every noise they made was fear embodied by sound.

Jace ran through the door, interrupting the girl of her thoughts. "Sinon, you can't just run off like that!" he hissed. "I barely knew where you went!"

"Sorry," Sinon muttered, trying to clear her head. "I just saw this path and figured it would be a good place to go. At least now we have a shelter."

But it was more than that, Sinon realized, running a hand through her icy hair. This wasn't just a building. There was a large likelihood that there was a page in the corridors of the small building. All she had to do was walk around the corners. And maybe, if she got the third page, it would lure the boss in closer.

"Well now we're sitting ducks," Jace muttered. "He's invincible until we get the fourth page. The only chance that we have is to get the page and run out."

Sinon felt her stomach lurch. If they were to find a page in here, they would be trapped. The Field Boss would find them in here and they would just be crystal shards in the air. "Well, there are only four pages," she said. "What are the odds that it'll be in here?"

"It's right behind your head Sinon," Jace answered, snatching a page from behind her head. Sinon would have been embarrassed, or maybe even laughed, but the situation was a traumatic one and the boy gave her no time to worry about it. "Listen, the «Slenderman» will only go after one of us. If we find it and then split up, one of us will probably survive. I'll distract it while you look for the last page. All you have to do is get the page, Sinon. Can you do that?"

The girl nodded and took a deep breath. "Yeah, I can do this."

Jace peeked outside the doorframe, scanning the surrounding area for life. It appeared that he found none, because he turned back to Sinon. As soon as he turned, however the boy's face turned white as if he had seen a ghost. The girl turned to find the «Slenderman» right behind her.

Sinon froze, staring at the massive figure in front of her. She now had a good look at the figure that was her worst nightmare. It was dressed in a white shirt covered by a black suit and tie. It easily stood at eight feet tall and had to crouch just to fit in the room. It had long arms that were thin as rails and had to be as tall as Sinon was herself and legs to match. It had defined cheekbones, but those were the only features present on his ghostly white face–no eyes, nose, mouth, ears, or hair of any kind. And what scared her even more was that he had tentacles that were growing from his back, extra arms that just slithered through the air like serpents.

One of the hands reached towards her slowly. Everything inside of Sinon screamed at her, yelled at her, told her to run, but there was nothing that she could do. Her legs seemed to be frozen in place, locked and rigid where she stood. As the serpentine arm snaked toward her, Sinon saw static beginning to pass in front of her eyes. She knew that this was the end, she could see her SP falling steadily, but for some reason it didn't register with her.

A bullet flying past Sinon's ear snapped her out of her trance. Instantly, the bullet found its mark in the tentacle of an arm that was reaching for Sinon, causing the Field Boss to recoil. The static stopped and Sinon found the ability to run. She fled out the door, not turning back. But as she reached the tree-line, a thought struck her like lightning.

Jace was still inside.

She was about to run inside when Jace emerged from the door, facing backwards and shooting a barrage of bullets into the chest of the «Slenderman» with a pistol. The monster continued to slowly creep forward anyway, despite the invisible hammer that crashed against its body with every shot Jace made. As he reloaded, the boy turned to Sinon and shouted "Run!"

Sinon stood there for a moment. She couldn't just _leave Jace._ He might have been good, but he wouldn't survive. On the other hand, she had no chance of fighting the Field Boss, and just as Jace had said, his bullets did nothing to the monster's HP. Their only chance was for Sinon to find the last page.

So Sinon turned and darted away from the boy, toward another path that winded around the building toward an array of large tanks of gasoline, gray and plain. If she could find a page here, she would be able to run back and help Jace. If not, she would have to pick another path before the time ran out–oh shit.

Sinon glanced up at the clock and found that they only had five minutes until the timer reached zero. Did they have to find the page in five minutes, Sinon wondered, or kill the Boss? If it was the last one, Sinon was sure that they would fail the mission–and maybe die. Even if it was the first, the girl still only had but five minutes to find the page.

Sinon hurried to the tanks and ran through the rows, desperately searching for a page. Every second that she spent drove an iron nail of fear through the girl's heart, but she couldn't just dash away until she was sure the page wasn't there.

At four minutes, Sinon began crawling, checking the bottoms of the tanks. All she could find was a wrapper that burst into shards as soon as she reached for it. It definitely wasn't in the array of tanks. But there was no path leading from the tanks anywhere else! Where was she supposed to go? There was nowhere else to look!

At two minutes, Sinon began desperately searching the edge of the forest for some sign of a path. Surely there would be a break in the trees like there was where she and Jace emerged in front of the building? But as she scoured the edge of the forest, she found nothing. But there was a hill with something gray just beyond it; maybe some kind of concrete structure?

At one minute, Sinon realized that the structure was a tunnel. If the page wasn't there, all was lost. She sprinted at the tunnel and dove inside. She hit the inside in a roll and stood, looking down the tunnel. Her eyes had not adjusted to the darkness of the tunnel. But she saw the page at ten seconds and began sprinting.

Five… four… three… two… one…

As soon as the timer reached zero, Sinon tore the page off of the wall. The page counter reached four and the timer faded away. Now she had to go back and help Jace defeat the Boss. A beep from her earpiece signaled that the boy was sending her a message over the Squadron Assist. She eagerly accepted and awaited for the voice. A loading screen came up in front of her and after a few seconds of silence, she heard the boy's voice: "I lost him, Sinon."

The menu disappeared and Sinon saw the shape of a tall figure dressed in black. She started and stumbled backwards, falling into the cold puddles on the tunnel with a splashing sound. But the water wasn't nearly as cold as the feeling she got from the monster as she felt her legs locking again. She could hear distant static and knew that this could be the end. But she got one last message over the Squadron Assist. She absentmindedly opened it, watching the «Slenderman» glide closer every second.

"I believe in you, Sinon," came the voice of Jace from the small menu.

A fire ignited in the girl's heart and she stood, pulling out her «New Tech Sturmgewehr» and raising it to the Field Boss's head. She watched the «Aiming Circle» shrink steadily until it was the size of a needle, just over the center of the monster's head. Her finger brushed the trigger and she saw the muzzle flash white hot as she launched the first bullet at the monster's ugly white head. It connected and the monster's head whipped back from the force of the small resulting explosion. The «Slenderman's» first HP bar dipped by about 5%.

She kept shooting, stepping backwards with every bullet to keep the distance between the two at a maximum. Every one of the incendiary bullets chipped away at the monster's health until Sinon fired the last bullet in her gun at the Field Boss, At that point, the first HP bar vanished and the «Slenderman» grew a multitude of tentacles that swarmed around him wildly, almost like a shield, blocking her from scoring critical hits.

A tentacle darted at Sinon and smashed against her chest sending her sprawling backwards, her shield depleted completely. She gritted her teeth anyway and got up, arms quivering under stress. Another tentacle flew at her but the girl swatted it away with the barrel of her Light Rifle. She didn't have long before the Boss would strike again; what she needed to do was get away until Jace could find her. Sinon blocked one more tentacle and then bounded away.

"Jace!" She yelled as she emerged from the tunnel. "It's over here!"

But there was no answer to her cry as the «Slenderman» emerged once more from the tunnel, arms slithering through the winter air. The Field Boss slung one of them at Sinon, cracking it against her stomach like a whip. The girl skidded backwards, anchoring herself by the toes so as not to fall. She wished that she could do the same with her HP, but she couldn't stop it until it fell just above the halfway point.

Sinon cartwheeled to the right to avoid another tentacle, shooting one of the monster's arms clean off of his back. Sinon estimated the drop in HP at roughly ten percent, which gave her an idea. She began to shoot at the «Slenderman's» arms, cutting them off from the sheer force of the impact, and eventually got the boss down by another HP bar.

Sinon went to reload and found that she was out of ammo for the Light Rifle. Fortunately, she had cut off most of the Field Boss's tentacle arms, so there was much less of a threat of being killed. The Boss pulled out two pistols from his suit jacket as the second HP bar disappeared, wielding them in its shorter, more normally-placed arms. He shot a bullet that grazed Sinon's left cheek as she rolled away, dipping her HP bar to the yellow–right at half of her HP.

Sinon pulled out her sniper, the «Pyrolith Giat», as she got up, throwing herself to the side. Using a sniper at close range like this was terribly risky, but she had no other option. She pulled up the gun to her eyes and aimed as she flew through the air, watching as her «Aiming Circle» shrank to the size of a dinner plate. She knew she would hit the ground before she could shoot if she waited any longer, so she fired two bursts. As she hit the ground, she heard the sound of sizzling flesh, the scream of a Photon bullet proclaiming that it had hit its mark. It still had half of its third HP bar, but Sinon could tell that the battle was not as one-sided as she had originally thought it would be.

The Field Boss raised its arms, aiming the guns at Sinon and fired them, one after the other. Sinon felt the bullets whizzing past her face; one even caught one of her hairs and cut it in two. But as she focused harder and harder on dodging the bullets, she lost track of a tentacle in the corner of her vision. By the time that she noticed it, it was already in her gut, sending her rolling end over end until smacking against a tree. Her HP bar dwindled slowly until it stopped with a tiny red triangle in the upper left-hand corner.

Sinon tried to push herself and managed to prop herself against the back of the tree trunk, but her gun was about fifteen feet away under one of the many dead bushes in the «Black Forest». The girl felt her heart start to race and realized she was about to hyperventilate. This was the end. After fighting and surviving for a month, she was going to die at the numerous disfigured hands of the «Slenderman». Static filled her vision as a tentacle reached forward to the girl's face, and she felt the same icy coldness from before.

"Oi, Slendy!" came a voice from above.

The Field Boss looked up, returning Sinon's sight. The girl also looked up to find Jace standing in the branches. Instantly a barrage of bullets came down from above, riddling the Field Boss's body, who fell backwards and continued traveling backward for a moment until he used his hands to drag himself to a stop before leaping to the side and dodging the boy's bullets.

Sinon was drinking a health potion when a realization suddenly struck her like lightning. The Boss hadn't dodged any of the bullets she shot, but it was maneuvering around almost every bullet Jace was shooting. Could it have been that the Boss was only programmed to dodge bullets from automatic fire? It would raise the difficulty of the mission and make it so that only skilled players could play the mission in a simple and effective way. Maybe, as a sniper, Sinon was the only chance that the duo had at surviving. She dashed forward to her «Photon Giat» and picked it up, quickly aiming it at one of the «Slenderman's» arms. She then took a deep breath and pulled back her arm, activating a sniper skill, «Spearhead Shot».

Instantly, Sinon's vision gained a green tint, as if she was looking through night vision goggles. The Field Boss was a different hue, as if a yellow gel had been put in front of the girls eyes in the ever-changing shape of the «Slenderman». Three targets in a shade of luminescent red came into existence after the colors locked into place. Each of them swiveled into place to rest at one of the monster's tentacles, before becoming white. Sinon saw–no, it was more of a soulful _feeling_–the muzzle of her gun light up three times and then her vision returned to normal, just in time to see the blue streaks that marked where her bullets were carving through the air _and _the «Slenderman's» arms.

The suited monster froze, standing silently for a brief moment in time as its HP fell slowly. The final bar dropped slowly, shrinking smaller and smaller until there was nothing left. Then, in a flurry of blue shimmering prisms, it burst apart and died.

All was silent as the "Congratulations" message popped up in front of Sinon. She looked through the items that she was rewarded and found nothing of any value except for one strange item that she had never heard about before: a «Slentacle». She also found a note on the inside of the monster's jacket. She silently read it to herself.

"O slayer of Slenderman, beware.

Your time is coming, so do prepare,

For the very next mission, you now have achieved.

There is only one way to keep loved ones from grief,

For now you must acquire these items three:

The Slentacle, dropped from a Boss like a tree,

An Urn from the beast in Stromcall's sewer

And three small silver coins in the «Heifer's» manure.

In the heart of Babel, deliver these things

To the man in «The Armory» who wears seven rings.

If you give him these items and listen to all of his rabble,

You'll go down in history as the Ghillie of Babel."

"That wasn't _too_ tough," Jace said after a moment. The look he acquired from Sinon, however, was more than enough to shut him up for the rest of the night, even as they teleported back to «Asfos» to spend the night in a well-deserved inn room. The two said not so much as a word as they went to bed, and Sinon found that she had fallen asleep before her head hit the pillow.

* * *

Author's Notes

Sorry guys! I was out of state yesterday and couldn't post the chapter, but hopefully it won't be too late. From here on in, however, I have decided to just post the chapter when they're finished, not wait for a certain schedule.

I'm going to do the Author's Notes backwards this time because I feel like it'll be easier. We'll start with the fact that I used Slenderman, then get to the coding, the changes from the original game, the Thief's Pass, Ashley, and the dirty joke.

Yes, I used Slender as the inspiration for the Boss. I thought it would be cool, and I like how it turned out (even though Slendy wouldn't fit in very well on a planet run by homoreptilliae). For those of you who do not know what Slender is about, it is about a monster called the Slenderman. The player starts in a forest and walks around trying to find all eight pages. It's really hard and REALLY spooky if you play it in the dark. I recommend it highly.

The whole thing about the coding of the mission? Basically, the Slenderman is programmed to attempt to dodge any and every bullet fired from a gun set on automatic. Many of the noobs use LMGs and just spray, hoping to hit the target. By dodging the bullets, it makes the mission more difficult for the player, raising the difficulty without actually changing the entire mission.

Originally, there are twice as many pages in the game, but that would have made it very difficult to write (including the boss fight) while still getting close to the targeted story length and not screwing up the plan for the next chapter (guys the next chapter is planned!). It is also not timed in the game, but–again–it helped with the plan.

The Thief's Pass will come back at some point and it's going to be awesome ahhhh.

Ashley is a real character, not an OC. I have not read the Light Novels or watch the Manga, so I have no clue whether or not I'm getting her character right or if I'm just being completely OOC. As a side-note, I don't plan to make this a lemon (unless it's maybe a KiritoxAsuna Chapter 16.5 deal); the comment about the saucy (or spicy or whatever) underwear is used sheerly to emphasize how innocent Sinon is and to (possibly) generate some gentle laughs.

As for Jace's dirty joke and the way Sinon reacted, it's not amoment for a ship to be born. Jace as we read more with Jace you'll find that he has a very complex personality and a skewed sense of humor. His and Sinon's innocence levels will clash a fair amount. And again, Sinon's reaction is a wee bit comical. *devilish smile*

That's all for this chapter other than the Game Data. So thank you for reading! I have enough OC's to last for a while, so the contest is over. I appreciate all of the applicants. I will pull the chosen ones into the Second Crusade and they will get minor character spotlights. And last but not least, please don't forget to review! I love getting reviews, even ones that are negative. Thank you for your time again.

**Aiming Circle- **The circle where a bullet may land in that appears if the player aims down the sights.

**SMG- **Sub Machine Gun.

**Xylotes- **The most common mob in Aincrad.

**SP- **Shield Points.

**Aincrad- **The planet in which GWO is set.

**Col- **The currency of the IGAF.

**MT-** Mobile Teleporter.

**Xylose-** The written language of the Xylotes.

**Sergeant- **The equivalent to a boss in a regular mmorpg.

**Clearing- **The equivalent of a Boss Raid

Sinon's Game Data

**Level:** 22

**HP:** 1300 (200+50xlvl=HP, where lvl=level)

**Col: **113,743

Main Equipment

**Pyrolith Giat- **Sniper Rifle ideal for players under level 32. Real counter-part, FR Giat.

**New Tech Sturmgewehr-** Light Rifle ideal for players under level 24. Real counter-part, STG Sturmgewehr.

**Sexy Commando Outfit-** A green, black and white outfit made by Ashley.

**Mk II Kevlar Field-** Low-level Energy shield that can be purchased in Base Camp.

Skill Slots: 9

Skills (Basic 0-249 pts, Advanced 250-499 pts, Proficient 500-749 pts, Expert 750-999 pts, Master 1000 pts)

**Sniper Rifle- **Makes the user more efficient with Sniper Rifles. 431

**Light Rifle- **Makes the user more efficient with Light Rifles. 154

**Steady Aim- **Shrinks the Aiming Circle by default, raising accuracy. 407

**Night Vision- **Gives the user the ability to see in the dark. 201

**Hawkeye- **Reduces the distance effect (zooming in) and increases visual identification rate. 94

**First Aid- **Allows the user to quickly treat wounds, restoring HP. 93

**Cooking-** Assists the user in the art of cooking. 42

**Unarmed- **Makes the user more efficient with hand to hand combat. 201

**Tracking- **Allows the user to track mobs–and people–more easily. 131


	5. The Day Off

Disclaimer: I appreciate and honor the fact that you are taking the time to read my story. I thank you for any reviews, follows, and favorites. Please enjoy this story after the following disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own any of its characters. Sword Art Online belongs to Reki Kawahara, ASCII Media Works, and the SAO Project. Please support the official release.

Character Ages

Kirito- 16 (October 7th, 2008)

Asuna- 17 (September 30th, 2007)

Sinon- 16 (January 17th, 2009)

Jace- 17 (February 13th, 2008)

* * *

Chapter 5

Tuesday, December 11th, 2022. Continent: Ianides. Asfos.

Jace groaned as the bright morning sunlight crossed his eyes and illuminated the small suite in the «Auberge du Asfos» from the curtains. He glanced at the clock to his left and saw that it was only 8:00. He grumbled again and turned over, pulling on his covers. It was a rough night; he deserved a good night's nest. On top of that, he and Sinon had only been able to get one room with two beds at the French-styled inn.

He glanced over at Sinon, who was sitting up in her bed, staring at the wall. He liked the way her blue hair looked; he usually hated when girls died their hair. But with Sinon, the Celeste-blue hair dye worked wonders. It attracted the eye and held its attention like a Venus Fly Trap, and he was a fruit fly, buzzing lazily around in his bed.

Jace pushed himself up slowly, hearing the bed creak slightly under the weight being suddenly distributed. Sinon heard it as well, and whipped her head around to look at the source of the noise, eyes showing how startled she was. When she saw that it was only Jace, she sighed and leaned back against the bed's headboard. "Good morning," the girl said, closing her eyes.

"Morning," Jace responded in a groggy voice, getting up slowly. "I don't think I thanked you for saving me last night. I don't know how he dodged all of my bullets–"

"It dodges automatic fire," Sinon said cutting him off. "I figured it out as soon as it started dodging your bullets. It hadn't done that when I was shooting at it in the tunnel, even when its HP was down. It couldn't have been the attack pattern changing either; it had the same amount of hit points. The only variables were our gender and the type of guns we were using. My guess was that it would raise the difficulty or something."

Something in the back of Jace's mind stretched, as if waking up after a long sleep. Something about what Sinon had said had raised an alert in the back of his mind, but he couldn't quite voice it yet. Whatever it was, Jace told himself that he would give Argo the information about the changed difficulty level of the mission.

"The Clearing isn't until tomorrow," Jace yawned, stretching his arms high up to the sky. "So unless you want to scout the clearing, we can just take a day off today."

Sinon cocked her head in confusion. "A day off? You mean we're not going to the front lines or experience grinding at all for a whole day? What would we even do?"

"Well it is a Wednesday, so everything will be less busy," Jace thought aloud, getting up and opening his menu to where his day clothes were. "We could just have hang out around town and have dinner somewhere nice."

For a moment, Jace thought he saw Sinon's cheek turn rosy, but when he looked back to check, she still looked nothing other than confused. "We never take days off," she said, her voice oozing with suspicion as if expecting for Jace to tell her that it was merely a prank; that he had some rigorous training exercise to complete. But when Jace merely shrugged and continued equipping his day clothes, she nodded. "So will we be staying in «Asfos» then?"

"Well I need to stop by «Ashley's» and get a new outfit that's a bit more… casual," Jace told her with a frown as he fixed his pants to a comfortable position on his waist. "I love the «Sky Coat» and all, but it makes me stand out a lot."

"Rivaling with Kirito, huh?" Sinon asked, rolling her eyes.

"No, there's a big difference between me and Kirito," Jace explained. "Kirito is known as the «Beater» here, but nobody on the streets recognizes him because he just wears all black. There's nothing… flamboyant about him, so he can remain anonymous as long as he doesn't reveal his title. Then, on the opposite side of the scale, there's me. I have this coat that's unique in every way, so I stand out in people's memories. And in Aincrad, that can be a good thing or a bad thing."

"Alright, Mr. Paranoia," Sinon scoffed, rolling her eyes. "After «Ashley's» shop, where will we go?"

"That's the best thing about a day off," Jace said, finally equipping his signature long-coat which fell around his form in a flourish of white and blue. "We don't have to decide where to go or what to do. We just do what we want." He then turned to the girl with a smile and winked. "You ready?"

Sinon looked down and turned, opening her menu to get dressed. She then looked over her shoulder and looked straight at Jace. After they both stared at each other, she huffed angrily. "Well? Turn around! I'm not changing in front of you!"

Jace felt heat rising in his cheeks and he turned around, staring at the wall. After a few seconds and a few pearl-like beeping sounds from Sinon's menu, Sinon told Jace he could turn around again. When he looked back, Sinon was in her commando suit from «Ashley's». Jace felt something in his stomach, his hand moving instantaneously toward it.

"You okay?" Sinon asked the boy as he gripped his stomach.

"Yeah," Jace said with a nod and a wave. "I'm fine; just have to go to the bathroom. Do you want to figure out places for us to go?"

"Okay," Sinon answered as she pulled up a map of the towns they'd been in in the past. "If I find anything I guess I'll let you know."

Jace nodded, then walked into the bathroom and leaned against the wall. His stomach was churning. It felt like he had had a bad meal, but there was no status effect that could have caused it near his HP bar, and he hadn't eaten anything that wasn't suitable to eat in at least a week. He figured the feeling would go away after he took the few steps it took to get to the toilet and sat down for a moment.

)-0-(

Jace walked out into the halls of the «Auberge du Asfos» late that morning. He and Sinon had gotten a message from Argo to meet her that night in her tent before the Clearing started at midnight. The girl had heard something about the Sky Coat and needed to see Jace to determine whether or not the information was true. So they made a plan to meet at 10:00 that night–giving the duo about six hours until they would have to leave for the city of Babel.

As the two stepped outside of the hotel and into the surprisingly warm December day, Jace looked around the city. «Asfos» was truly a beautiful city, full of exciting people and events. Even walking down the streets made him feel like he was in a small town on a vacation. And today, that was exactly what was going on.

"So «Ashley's» first and then where?" Sinon asked Jace, interrupting him from his thoughts.

"You really don't get the purpose of a day off, do you?" Jace answered with a sly smirk. "We get to do whatever we want! We don't decide it yet, we decide it whenever we get done with something and just go from there."

Sinon grumbled a response that sounded like "yuck Jew, face" with certain consonants reversed and walked ahead to the store–which wasn't very far, considering the tailor's shop was only a few blocks from the hotel. She walked in about ten seconds ahead of Jace, who caught the door just before it closed.

Ashley greeted Sinon immediately with a large hug and a string of French sentences. "Bonjour, mon cher! Avez-vous apprécié la tenue?"

"Yes, I did enjoy the outfit," Sinon grunted as she pushed the other girl away. She dusted herself off before continuing with a gesture to Jace. "I'm not here for myself though… This is Jace; he's looking for something a little bit more casual."

Ashley frowned and walked over to Jace, eyes still pointed to the girl. "Has he seen the saucy–?"

"Ashley!" Sinon barked as her cheeks tinged red. "Enough about that!"

"I see," Ashley sang with a sly grin. Then she turned on her critical eyes on Jace's body. Something about the way they seemed to look first at the small scar just above his chin before analyzing the boy's waistline and chest. "He is a bit scrawny, no?"

"I prefer the term _lean_," Jace grunted, stepping back. "I've got enough muscle to do what I need, and more could make me slower."

"What do you want?" Ashley asked as she rolled her eyes. "I'm a busy woman; I don't have all day."

"Do you have white jeans?" Jace asked, more than slightly annoyed.

"Do _you_ have any knowledge of _fashion_?" Ashley answered with a snort.

"Ashley," Sinon asserted. "He's a friend of mine. Cut him some _slack_, will you?"

Ashley huffed at the unintentional pun and opened her inventory, scrolling through a long list of clothes. She eventually pulled out a pair of jeans and a selection of white dyes before turning to Jace. "I will be back in a moment. What shade of white?"

Jace picked up the dyes one by one, examining each one closely. After a while he handed Ashley one of the bottles back. "I like this one the best," he announced, handing it back to the tailor. "Ivory."

Ashley nodded and walked back to one of the counters. She laid the jeans on the table then and tapped the dye. A circle lit up around her fingers and she dragged it across the denim as an artist would use a paintbrush on a canvas. Every stroke left a streak of white in its wake like an airplane cutting through the sky trailing white smoke. After a brief moment, the woman held up the pants and observed her work. Then, seemingly content, she nodded and walked over to the boy. "Here you go," she said then, unceremoniously tossing the pants into the boy's arms.

Jace held the pants up in front of his legs and looked in the mirror. The pants matched the coat quite nicely, and Jace thought they looked good. "How much for them?" He asked the girl.

"I'll give them to you for 500 Col," she said, opening a trade menu. "You may find them expensive, but–"

"Deal," Jace responded, cutting her off mid-sentence. "Pleasure doing business with you."

Ashley blinked, surprised by Jace's response. But sure enough, the boy put five hundred Col in the box for her and Ashley accepted the trade. After all, she was richer at the cost of some dye and a pair of jeans. "Is there anything else you'd like?"

"Yeah, do you have any white jackets?" Jace asked. "I like this and all, but it's a bit flashy for me to wear all the time."

Ashley nodded, diving back into her inventory. After a moment of searching, she retrieved another item called the «Wintry Coat». It was simple in design, blue and lined with white fur. It looked like it would be tight and cozy, which Jace was sure he would be able to confirm after equipping the item. It came down to his waist and hugged him tightly, like a small child who hadn't seen her father in hours.

"This will cost more, considering it's made out of very rare materials," Ashley explained. "I only use the best fabrics, so these come out to about 1,250 Col. It offers a lot of protection, since it's made from the hide of a Field Boss near Nefaria, and it's really durable."

"I like it," Jace told her, paying her in full. "It's just what I'm looking for."

"Pleasure to do business with you," Ashley said with a nod before walking back to the counter and sewing together fabrics. "Come back any time." The tailor watched them as they walked outside of her shop until they were out of sight, hidden behind the wall just past the window.

"So where do we go next?" Jace asked Sinon.

"Is there a park?" the girl asked. "I kind of feel like going out in nature."

Jace nodded, pulling up his map. "It should be on Amanite Way, about forty meters north of here," he said, pointing to a small street in front of the duo on the floating screen. "If we take a right, we'll get there quicker, but it's still a little bit of a walk."

"That's okay," Sinon sighed quietly, continuing forward. She was walking slightly faster than Jace, about two feet ahead of the boy when she slowed down and turned to him as they walked. "Tell me about yourself in real life, Jace."

"There's nothing to tell, really," Jace sighed. "I'm just a pretty average high school student. School, part-time job, and my family is all I really have time for… Well I guess _had_ would be the right word now. Now all I do is fight aliens and monsters. But what about you? What do you like to do?"

"Well, I don't really do much," Sinon said, putting a hand to the back of her neck. "I go to school and hang out with my friend, Kyouji, but that's it."

All of time froze as Jace threw her a glance from the corner of his eye. The way Sinon was holding herself suggested that she was anxious about something. The arm was a giveaway, but there was nothing that she should be anxious about. Unless there was something about Kyouji that made her uncomfortable, there was no reason for her fidgeting and downward glances.

"You seem uncomfortable," Jace said quietly as he turned right down Amanite way. "Is there something about Kyouji that you don't like? Is he a _stalker_?"

Sinon frowned and shook her head. "He's the only friend I had in the real world. He actually suggested that I get into VRMMO's. He said they would help me overcome some of my fears." Sinon then laughed dryly. "Instead of curing my fears, it gave me a bunch of new ones. I guess that's not exactly friend material, but he never teased me at least."

"Why would someone tease you?" Jace asked. "What would they even tease you about? It's not like you're unattractive or stupid."

Sinon stopped dead in her tracks, looking at the boy. Her head cocked slightly and Jace thought he detected a slight rosy tint on her cheeks. She opened her mouth and asked a question without words before vocally asking again: "Did you just say that I was attractive, Jace?"

Jace coughed and turned away, cheeks burning radiantly. "No, I said you weren't unattractive. Like you're not ugly. You're just there."

"Oh," Sinon said, sounding slightly offended. "I thought I looked good in this, but I guess I was mistaken."

Jace turned back to her and opened his mouth to speak, but shut it as soon as he realized that he was fighting a losing battle. But as Sinon sniggered, he realized she had been messing with him. "That's not funny, Sinon," he pouted.

"That's what you think," Sinon said with a smirk before glancing along the street. "So where is this park you're talking about?"

"It's right around this corner," Jace said, turning left at one of the street corners.

At the end of the street, the city ended and a park began. The patch of land was covered in grass, with trees sprouting here and there. The greenery didn't end there; foliage littered the lofty and low landscapes. About halfway into the park was a sandy shore by a lake that spanned nearly a kilometer. It was serenity in its most natural form: pure nature.

"I'll race you!" Jace whooped as he tore down the street, leaving Sinon choking on a cloud of dust that turned blue as burst apart as it got farther from the ground, no longer becoming part of the ground but rather a low-durability entity.

"No fair," Sinon groaned as she ran forward trying to catch up with the blonde. "I wasn't ready!" But Jace had already begun climbing a tree at the edge of the park, hanging from a branch by his legs.

"Hey there, kiddo," Jace laughed. "How's it hanging?"

Sinon rolled her eyes with a smile. "You're a nerd, you know that?"

"But you wouldn't put up with it if you didn't like me," Jace teased, sticking out his tongue. Suddenly, Sinon grew an evil smirk and the blonde knew he was doomed. Sinon reached out a slender hand to the boy's chest and held it there for a moment before shoving forward. It only took two seconds for the boy to hit the ground and three for the icy blue warrior to fall back against the tree, her body shaking with laughter.

"You should have seen the look on your face when you started falling!" Sinon snickered, holding a hand up to her mouth as laughed hysterically. "They were the size of baseballs and your mouth was so…" It appeared that the last bit was all she could manage before she fell to the ground.

"Well it looks like I'll just have to _get you back_!" Jace shouted, jumping up and poking a finger into each of the girl's hips. Sinon squealed a loud noise of disapproval and writhed under the Jace's fingers as he tickled her. She flung herself off of the ground and sprinted away, shrieking as she barreled through the brush. Now it was Jace's turn to laugh as he chased her through the woods.

After a few laps around the lake, the two settled down on the shore. Jace pulled a large blanket from his inventory and spread it across the sands of the beach. Sinon gave him a questioning look as he continued scrolling through his inventory, but Jace ignored her, pulling out baskets and plates from his inventory.

"A picnic?" Sinon asked, eyes sparkling. "I've never been on one before!"

"Well there's no time like the present," Jace chuckled, "and I suppose we have to do _some_ fun things every once in a while, else we remember we're trapped here."

Sinon glanced at the quilt on the ground, tracing a spiral design with her right index finger. "We are stuck here for a while, aren't we?" Sinon murmured.

"If we keep moving at the rate that we're moving though, it shouldn't take more than four or five years," Jace guessed, adding up figures in his head. After all, it had taken almost six weeks for them to get to the second major city; they would probably clear it before the seventh began. "But we'll get better as we go along. It could be two years and then we're out. Unless the next continents pose completely different threats, we should be fine."

"You know, at first the news that we'd been trapped here was terrible. I was convinced that I was going to die right after Kayaba spoke," Sinon admitted. "But starting about last week, after we beat «Illfang» in Nefaria, everything started seeming a little less hopeless. I guess I've just been enjoying living here… even though it's not real. Is that weird?"

Jace looked up at Sinon. She was staring at the quilt on the ground, still tracing the spirals. Her cheeks had a light rosy tint that popped out wildly from her icy blue hair. Suddenly, Jace could feel another writhing in his stomach, and he reached out slightly, putting his hand near hers. "It's not strange at all," Jace explained quietly. "It's good, in fact. That way we don't have to think of this game as a death trap. We can just work through it and go back to our real lives."

Sinon glanced at the boy's hand and looked away, darting her eyes to the side with an uncontrollable grin. "The company helps, too," she continued unable to look into his eyes. "If it were the first guy I met I'm sure I wouldn't have been happy."

"What was he like?" Jace asked, feeling his ears growing warm. "Probably short and fat with a high voice or something, right?"

Sinon shook her head, drawing a chuckle from her companion. "He was a redhead with eyes that were just black. He was a bit of a meathead, really. Lunky and unintelligent looking. He called himself Jackal."

Suddenly Jace stopped laughing. He remembered that name. "Jackal?"

"Yeah," Sinon confirmed, taking note of how Jace's reaction was one of a person that had just seen a ghost. "Is something wrong?"

Jace closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyelids, his irises which had been so green and warm came back stony and colder than an arctic blizzard. "This would have been before the tutorial, correct? Before we were given the mirrors."

"I had just logged in," Sinon peeped lowly, eyes bright with fear. The only time she had seen Jace afraid before had been in the «Black Forest,» and while the look in the blonde's eyes was not frightful, it was indeed grim. "What's wrong? Did something happen between you two?"

But Jace could hear nothing, he was being sucked into a vivid flashback.

)-0-(

Saturday, August 27th, 2022. Continent: Ianides. Fort Kronos.

In the Beta Test of Galactic Warfare Online, Jace knew there were three types of markers that had been placed on the maps apart from roads, and all of them were types of settlements.

There were eleven red crosses on the map of «Ianides» that signified Major Cities–for example, those of «Base Camp» and «Nefaria.» All of them were connected by a maroon road that trailed across the single continent of the Xylotian world. These towns either had to be cleared or were cleared by the players of their previous inhabitants with the exception of Base Camp (which was run by the «IGAF» from the start). Many homes could be found in these areas, as well as a few quests and NPC run stores, but the number of player run stores was few.

There were twenty-one teal dots that marked «Towns and Minor Cities» like «Asfos» and «Glasswaters.» They were connected by grey roads that stretched out like tendrils from the main maroon road, and though a few of them were on the main path, they were significantly easier to clear than Major Cities and nonessential for the clearing of the game. They did have many more missions and houses than the major cities as well, and were popular with players that wanted to enjoy the game without worry of reaching the second world, but they still lacked many shops–player run or otherwise.

Finally there were fifteen other settlements marked by orange dots called «Forts.» These were walled settlements with many NPC troops that guarded the edge. If a cursor signified that someone was an orange, red, or even a yellow player, they would not be allowed to enter the fort's limits without being attacked relentlessly by soldiers. There were also many quests in these areas, but there was nowhere to call home or even to sleep. Forts were created sheerly as places businesses could be run, making them very popular tourist destinations.

Jace had come to Fort Kronos to upgrade a piece of armor, the «Grieving Gauntlets.» The item's durability had gotten low, and the boy was not pleased with the idea of them breaking in the middle of combat. Though armor didn't provide protection from combat damage, it did raise a player's Armor Points, which were useful for protecting oneself from environmental damage and «Status Effects» such as «Burns» and «Poison.»

Normally, Jace wouldn't have been too concerned about «Status Effects» as he focused mainly on his AGI stat and could dodge most attacks, but he was working on a mission in a town to the north called «Aroboth» that involved clearing a nest of «Willowasps.» The mobs weren't difficult to deal with, but in swarms they were a force to be reckoned with–even more so since they could both induce «Status Effects» that could kill even the strongest of players. Jace had died twice trying to complete the mission with an Assault Rifle, and in the last run, his gauntlets had made the pinging noises to signify the decline in durability.

And so Jace found himself standing outside of the walls of «Fort Kronos» in search of one of his close companions, a high level player-manufacturer. To get in, however, he had to get past the NPC guards. There were only two and he only had to speak to them, but Jace tended to get incredibly frustrated when talking to NPC's, as they had a very limited sense of AI. Because of this, he tended to talk to one that was programmed with a higher INT stat.

One of the two was a short and stout tank, bearing a high level LMG, black and hefty looking. He shook his brown hair as his blue eyes scanned the landscape ten feet in front of them–ten feet was all they were programmed to look–as he guarded the main gate to the city. Jace guessed that this was the less intelligent of the two guards by the way his eyes seemed almost dead.

He moved onto the next one then, glancing up and down his body. He was tall and sleek, and he carried two pistols using the «Akimbo» perk in the Secondary Weapon's skill tree. They were a twin set, dark with wooden grips on the handle. His dark brown eyes swept the landscape vigilantly, taking note of every disturbance the eye could see–at least ten feet in front of him, that is.

Jace approached the sentry and spoke clearly in front of his face. "I would like to enter Fort Kronos."

"On what terms: business or pleasure?" The NPC asked with a friendly smile.

"Business; I need to get a weapon repaired." Jace answered, feeling slightly silly about talking to an NPC. "I'm looking for a high level player-manufacturer."

"Welcome to Fort Kronos," the NPC said kindly as he opened the door. "Enjoy your stay!"

"Thank you," Jace said, cursing as soon as he realized that he had reached the end of the NPC's dialogue. It wouldn't cause him to have to answer all of the guard's questions again or anything, but it was embarrassing to continue a conversation after it had reached its end in the blonde's mind. Without giving himself more time to dwell on his blunder, the boy continued through the opening gate.

Like all other forts, Fort Kronos was a bustling town with shops as far as the eye could see. There were a lot of players browsing through the various shops, as the settlement was known primarily for the players there that made high caliber weapons. But Jace was looking for one player in particular: a player-manufacturer named Jackal.

After a while of using his «Perception» skill to track players, he found the small shop called «The Alpha's» where the player-manufacturer was reported to have worked–at least according to Argo, who was virtually never wrong. And so Jace walked into the store, door creaking open as he took his first step inside the busy shop.

"Hey Jace!" the redhead greeted in his high, airy voice as soon as he walked into the door. "I wasn't expecting you! What brings you here?"

"My gauntlets are running a bit low on durability, and I heard great things about this place," Jace explained, bringing a hand up to his neck. "How much will a repair and an upgrade cost me if I give you the materials?"

"What material are the gauntlets made of?" Jackal asked.

In response, Jace took the armor off of his forearms and clacked them down on the counter top. The white arms braces clattered loudly and Jace answered quietly. "They're a mob drop, but I think they were made from «Diamite Ore.»"

Jackal's eyes widened and he leaned in closer. "You're kidding me. «Diamite» is the rarest material on Ianides! Did you fight some kind of boss?"

Jace shook his head. "The only boss that I know of is the «Slenderman» in the North. This was a drop from a mob in «Snow Valley,» about a click and a half to the southeast of there."

"I'll do it for free if you take me to where those mobs are," Jackal offered, unintentionally grabbing Jace by his shirt collar in an aggressive grip. Jace frowned and pried the manufacturer's fingers from near his neck. "If they drop armor made from «Diamite,» they're bound to drop some raw. Just take me there and both the repair and upgrade are yours free _right now_."

Jace didn't enjoy working with anyone and would much rather have just paid, but as it was he was short on cash. It wouldn't take long, he knew… but he would have to babysit a manufacturer that didn't leave the city frequently in an area with high level monsters. There weren't any major risks involved other than a level or two and a few minor items, but Jace was a cautious boy. But, since it appeared to be his only option, Jace reluctantly agreed.

And so, his slow nod would set off a chain reaction of events that would lead to tragedy.

)-0-(

"Jace?" Sinon asked. "What happened?"

Jace shook his head as he snapped out of his flashback. "Nothing," he lied. "I just knew him from the beta test. Did you want a sandwich?"

Sinon nodded and watched as Jace pulled a few «Slimy Stagwiches» from basket. She unwrapped the tin foil meant to keep the meat from spoiling and then went to town on the food, eating everything Jace gave to her. Their mouths opened more times to laugh then to take food into their mouths, and for Jace, that was a real feat.

Food was one of the wonders in this world. Jace couldn't believe how many senses were going crazy in his mouth compared to the food he usually ate. Usually, Jace ate only «Black Bread,» a common food that was dirt cheap–and tasted like it too. But the boy forced himself to stomach it, telling himself the money would be better spent on ammo.

The meat of a «Slimy Stag,» however disgusting it sounded, was a polar opposite. As his teeth tore into the tense tush of the animal, he could feel its succulent juice drip across his tongue. He was truly tasting a foreign delicacy; something he'd never tried before. And it was one of the best things he'd ever had to eat whether in-game or in reality. From the «Slimy Stagwiches» to the «Limon Juice,» from the «Limon Juice» to the «Stellar Salad,» from the «Stellar Salad» to the «Baked Porktatoes,» everything just got better and better.

After a while, the two finally finished their lunch and laid back to look at the sky. They gazed at the clouds, making pictures from their shapes for almost an hour before realizing that they only had two remaining before they began their trek eastward to the city of «Babel.»

"Crazy how long we've been here, isn't it?" Jace sighed. "It's a shame today's been flying by so fast. I don't want it to end."

"Why's that?" Sinon teased. "Surely you can't be _relaxing_? Don't you want to go back to mob grinding?"

"I'm just saying I enjoy your company away from the battlefield," Jace shrugged as he glanced toward the icy warrior. "Is that so weird?"

"Oh hush," Sinon huffed playfully, her eyes reflecting the clouds in the sky. She turned to face him and caught his eyes for a brief moment. As soon as their gazes locked, Jace felt his hair beginning to stand on end. His breath caught and for some reason, he felt a jolt of electric energy surge through him like a raging flood. Sinon seemed to notice because she snapped in front of his face. "Sinon to Jace, come in. You alive in there?"

Jace sat up quickly on the quilt, his heart a pounding sledgehammer. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about stuff." Was his face turning red? He hoped not. "We should probably get going on the road to «Babel;» I forgot that Argo wanted to meet up. That'll probably take an hour or so."

Sinon looked at the boy quizzically but decided to drop the subject, instead focusing on packing up the items on the ground to her inventory. As soon as she was done, Jace was already standing, fingers flashing across his open menu screen. After a moment he acquired the map data for «Ianides,» looking closely at the center of the continent.

"We're right here," Jace said, turning the screen to the girl and pointing at a small teal dot that lied a bit west of center. "It's about thirteen clicks southwest-west, so it would take just under two and half hours. But we have to account for mobs so it's likely to take about another hour. So if it's 2:00, we'd get to the «Clearer Camp» at about 5:30, 6:00 if we take a break. That would put us there right as the other troops are sitting down to eat. We'd eat for about an hour, and then «Clearing Training» would begin. That goes for three hours, putting us at 10:00. Curfew begins at midnight, so if we assume the meeting with Argo takes an hour, we would have an hour to get settled and get to our designated spot."

Sinon nodded and materialized her rifle, letting the heavy sniper drop into her hands. "Then I say it's time to get moving," she said seriously, the smile fading from her face. "Let's go."

)-0-(

The road from «Asfos» wasn't at all a hard trip. The weather on the road, though less than five kilometers from the snowy hills surrounding the «Ethereal Highlands» at any point in the trip, was clear, sunny, and only _slightly_ chilly. Even when the path cut through the «Oaken Glade» where temperatures were supposed to be ten degrees colder, Jace could barely feel the cold nipping at his ears. Sinon, with her skimpy outfit was not as happy, but felt better after Jace gave her a coat.

The mobs in the «Oaken Glade» were hardly a problem. The highest level monster the duo saw was a level 6 «Gamma Gremlin» which took them by surprise and got a few weak hits in on Jace, almost completely depleting his energy shield. Sinon took it out with a flaming bullet to the temple, and it collapsed before shattering into millions of cyan prisms.

The duo arrived at the camp right at 6:00 as planned. It was laid out in concentric circles, about 400 meters in diameter. Each clearing party got their own plot of land sized by how many people were in each Squadron or Army.

There were nine notable Armies that had formed since the first Clearing. The first Army, the «Aincrad Liberation Force» which was sometimes called "The Army," was by far the biggest. Of the 20,000 players left in the game, the «ALF» had about 3,000. They were set in «Base Camp» and didn't focus mainly on leveling or clearing, but rather helping the players who struggled to survive.

The second Army, the «Knights of the Blood Oath,» was widely known as one of the strongest Armies. Much of this was due to their leader, an older man named Heathcliff, who had never been seen to go into the yellow. He fought with a «Pyrolith Vorpal Blade» and a «Photon Shield,» doubling his defense almost to an impenetrable point. All of the members were up in the high teens or low twenties.

The third Army that had been admitted to fight in the Clearing was a group of almost forty players called the «School of Swordsmanship.» They all fought with «Plasmid Sword» type weapons–whether swords, axes, or even lances–and were fairly skilled with the weapons, as most had practiced with them in the beta test. They all wore cloaks and looked almost comically like Jedis from the movie series "Star Wars."

The fourth Army in the Clearers was a small guild of five men called the «Black Sun Brotherhood.» Although each of the five men were info brokers that rivaled the very reputation of Argo herself, they were each proficient with any weapon of one manufacturer each. They were filthy rich and often spent money buying houses just to get rid of loose change.

The fifth Army that participated in the Clearing–and in fact was one of the most helpful in the battle against «Illfang»– was the «Order of Eternal Fire.» They were known as celebrities in the game, often going into dungeons and clearing them with trick shots. They had all nearly mastered the «Acrobatics» skill as well as their primary weapon skill.

Army number six was called the «Strategic Assault Crew.» Though they had a terrible reputation for being sleazy and conniving, nobody could question the skills of these mercenaries. They often hired themselves out to lower level players to help them clear dungeons for a small price–often the Last Attack Bonuses from whatever mini-bosses were killed.

Seventh came the «Union of the Hunters.» Though they weren't the highest leveled players around, they were wonderful snipers that could shrink their «Aiming Circles» to less than the size of a grape. They had been influential in the Clearing of Asfos–something Jace was eternally grateful for.

The eighth Army was the equivalent of a biker gang: «Wreckingdawn.» Armed with massive LMG's, each of them had the firepower to take out a mid-level boss by themselves. The only thing that kept them from being the top Army in the Clearers was the fact that their boss was more concerned about money than training his troops.

Finally came the «Red Dragons of War.» They weren't really all too special, but they were often called to settle disputes; a type of gendarme in a way. Some called their Army by the affectionate nickname «The Police.» And all in all, they didn't mind too much.

Since they had gotten there a bit late, they selected one of the plots near the edge of the camp and began setting up camp. By 6:15, their tent was set up, their campfire was ablaze, and they were ready to head to dinner.

As usual, the solo players and small Squadrons were gathered at some of the many tables regaling each other with tales of recent fights and adventures. At the last meeting, Jace and Sinon had grabbed a table to themselves to avoid getting in anyone's way, but the blonde saw a familiar face.

"Hey, Kirito!" Jace called as he walked over to the raven-haired boy's table, Sinon in tow. "It's been a while! How have you been?"

Kirito shrugged. "I've been fine," he said, glancing off at another table. "There are getting to be fewer and fewer solo players. We're a dying race, Jace."

Jace followed the boy's gaze to find Asuna sitting at the table with the «Knights of the Blood Oath»–a surprise indeed. She even seemed to be one of those that spoke frequently to Heathcliff. And just past her at the table with the «Aincrad Liberation Force» was a person that shocked him even more: Kibaou.

Everything from the fact that Kibaou was in an Army to the fact that he was in «The Army» stunned him. What was a scumbag like Kibaou doing with all of them, the good people who were trying to save the under-leveled players? And beside him was that wild card, Spiegel, making Jace shiver again. What was _with_ him?

Jace resolved to ask Argo about the cactus-haired soldier later. For now, he was more concerned with the food that was coming. Each plate had «Powdered Peas,» «Cryocorn,» a roll made of «Barley Bread,» and a rare meat called «Venader» that most players related to a veal steak. Jace's plate hadn't been on the table for more than about two minutes before it was scraped clean of even the juices left behind by the «Venader.»

"You're a mess," Sinon grunted as she cut up a piece of the meat and put it in her roll, making a fairly tall sandwich. "Even Kirito isn't done eating yet!"

"Actually, I am," the soldier in black interrupted, crossing his fork and knife over his plate. "It was delicious."

Sinon rolled her eyes and gave up with a groan. "Where's Asuna when you need her?"

"Apparently she's joined the «Knights of the Blood Oath,»" Jace said, dabbing at his lip with a napkin which soon burst apart into polygons. "She's talking to Heathcliff, too. Looks like they're kind of close, even."

Sinon looked over to the Army's table. "She looks pretty good in their uniform, doesn't she?"

Jace glanced over at the girl, noticing her outfit for the first time. She wore a sleeveless white shirt with red piping and a red miniskirt. She wore white thigh-high stockings with the Army's insignia emblazoned just above the knee and short boots. Her white gloves went up just below her shoulder and had red accents wrapped in yellow piping. Jace had to admit, she looked rather attractive, but he didn't find her particularly as alluring as Sinon made her out to be.

Kirito, on the other hand, looked like he was about to start drooling. Jace sent him a PM with the simple message, "Careful, boy. You're ogling."

Kirito read the note and blushed slightly, closing his slightly parted mouth.

Jace and Sinon stayed for a while, listening to the gossip between the other Clearers and socializing with a few people they remembered from the last fight.

Agil, the large black man who had stood up to Kibaou in the first meeting about the First Campaign, came up to them with a man wearing a red bandana. He was introduced to Jace and Sinon as Klein, but it appeared as though Kirito knew the man. He was also a familiar face from the last Clearing; Agil and Klein had helped then immensely in the final moments of Kirito's battle against «Sergeant Illfang» when the solo player needed to recover, and they sat down at the table with the other three promptly.

The group didn't take too much time before diving into conversations about recent events and missions. Klein mentioned something about leveling up his «Assault Rifle» skill. Agil mentioned a strange customer that ordered a massive stock of random times. Sinon told the others that she had learned a new 4-Shot «Sniper Skill» called «Falcon's Strike.»

Jace, however, stayed more on the quiet side, taking everything in as he heard it. He preferred to keep his information unknown to as many people as possible. Sinon was the exception to the rule, as she was a member of his Squadron. As such, Jace couldn't hide anything from her unless it was for her own good or protection. He would always simply tell the others that he "ground for EXP" or "completed a mission."

Kirito was the same way, but since he was a solo player he told no one anything. Even Klein and Agil, who could be considered his best friends, knew little about what the boy did with his time when he was in Clearings or Campaigns. All anyone could really agree on concerning Kirito were a few things, and even they weren't positive what they were.

First was that Kirito would always give enigmatic answers to questions about his activities and whereabouts. Second was that he had been a beta tester, and a good one at that. Third, none of them had ever seen him with a gun, only a «Plasmid Sword» in one hand. And finally, that he was a higher level than one needed to be to clear any city on the continent of «Ianides».

So when Kirito said he'd "completed a mission in «Snow Valley,»" none of the others were surprised by the lack of details. But when they all turned to look at Jace expectantly, they were shocked to hear about both the battle against the «Slenderman» and then about his taking the day off.

"But you never take the day off," Agil protested. "And more than that, how could you have faced a «Field Boss» by yourself?"

"I wasn't by myself," Jace said with a shrug. "Sinon took care of most of it."

Suddenly all eyes were on Sinon, who vowed to kill Jace in the morning.

"How did you manage to kill off a «Field Boss» by yourself, Sinon?" Kirito asked. "You usually shoot pretty slowly. Even if you have a sniper, it should take you about ten or so shots per HP bar. Doesn't the «Slenderman» have four?"

Sinon looked at her empty plate. "I can shoot faster than I could when we were facing «Illfang.» I was just a bit afraid during the First Campaign."

"The «Slenderman» mission is scarier than other places because of the horror themed area," Kirito argued.

Jace held up a hand in a closed fist, silencing the black soldier. "She obviously doesn't want to talk about it, Kirito. Focus on the fact that she cleared a boss; shouldn't we be congratulating her?"

A glance from Sinon told him that he would surely die that night.

)-0-(

At 7:00, everyone was sent from the mess hall to the practice range. Many of the Clearers began to watch the five players as they took out target after target. But most of the attention was centered on Kirito.

Kirito had been in the beta test and fallen in love with the «Plasmid Sword» type weapon. Back in the beta test, many players had used them, due to the adrenaline rush one got from fighting Xylotes in such close quarters. But ever since the announcement that death was permanent in GWO, only the Army called «The School of Swordsmen» tended to use them, and they were individually known by most of the players. But Kirito was not a member of said Army.

For many of the Clearers, this was the first time they had noticed the boy. The first training for the Clearing had been very tense, and no one was focusing on anything other than the target in front of them. Similarly, during the training for the First Campaign, everyone was concerned about facing the first Boss of the game. Furthermore, the actual Clearing and Campaign were much too hectic to focus on anything other than killing scores of Xylotes. Now, much like high school actors on the second night of a show they had the mentality of "we've done this before; we'll do fine." And so they came to focus on Kirito.

Most of those who had participated in the last Campaign were still largely hostile towards Kirito due to his Beater status. He was hard to forget, after all, and most just glared at him with contempt that masked their curiosity. None of the other Clearers wanted anything to do with him, let alone make conversation with the famed Beater.

Jace saw many stares directed at Kirito and figured they would eventually ask the boy what all but the blonde wanted to ask: Why a «Plasmid Sword?»

Jace didn't want to ask, he wanted to deduce.

Kirito was not one for flashy displays, from what Jace could tell. He was indeed skilled and would go all out if the situation needed it, but he tended to keep any information about himself as secret as possible. Judging by that alone, it was obvious that he didn't use them as a means to show off. That left only practicality, which meant he had used the weapons so much that it had become easier than aiming a gun and shooting.

In a way, Jace could understand why Kirito would take the risks as well. While attacking from a distance was safer, it wasn't as safe as whatever a player was most skilled with. After all, there was a variety of different classes within GWO; Snipers, Stormers, Warlords, Commandos, Riflemen, and Closers were the most ones a player could fight with.

Snipers shot from long distances and tended to find perches were they could have a wider field of view. They hid wherever possible and felt uncomfortable when they were without cover or at close range.

Stormers liked to rush in guns blazing and kill whatever was near them. They couldn't stand open spaces because they were unlikely to survive in such conditions as a well-placed shot from a Sniper could easily take them down.

Warlords were similar to Stormers in that they used many bullets to take care of enemies, but they sprayed from a mid-ranged distance. Often using heavier weapons, they were more susceptible to enemies with high evasion skills and felt out of place when there were many walls that an enemy could emerge from.

Commandos were the most balanced of all the classes and tended to shoot, take cover, and then shoot again. If an enemy got close they would roll to the next cover and continue shooting. But if they had no cover or faced an opponent who could shoot through their protections, they were less effective, though not as helpless as some other classes in bad conditions.

Riflemen and Closers were very similar in that they preferred to attack from walls, but both used single shot weapons. The only real difference between the two was whether they used long range weapons or short range weapons. They were both okay in mid-range situations, but if they ventured into the other's territory they were less efficient.

Though a weapon didn't entirely decide the style, it did tend to come into play. For example, one could hardly play as the Sniper class with a pistol and someone with a sniper Rifle could hardly be a Stormer. At heart, though he had more experience with sniper rifles in-game, Jace was most comfortable with the Stormer style typically used with SMG's. The blonde could only guess that Kirito felt uncomfortable beyond an arm's reach. Therefore, it only made sense for him to use a melee weapon in this world of guns, despite the danger it imposed.

The rest of training passed uneventfully–less the glares from other Clearers due to association with the Beater. The group was dismissed from training; he and Sinon were only moments away from meeting with Argo.

Argo's tent was set up at the edge farthest from the city. That was because she would be participating in the Clearing but heading back to her home in «Glasswater» immediately after. Truthfully, she wouldn't have come had she not found information about the «Sky Coat.» Her customers always came first, after all.

Jace and Sinon entered the tent and were immediately stunned by how dirty the room was. Argo had various items scattered across the floor in haphazard arrays, a bed roll thrown in a curve around the items. A small desk with stacks of papers towered high above even Jace's head. The girl was reading the «Newspaper,» which was mostly just a web page that nearly anyone could add articles to. And Argo was one of the main editors.

"Damn it, I told them to keep the drops from «Gamma Gremlins» secret!" Argo hissed, opening her menu to send an angry message with her right hand as she gestured the group closer with her left. "Come on in and sit, I don't have all day."

"Where?" Sinon asked." There's no room on the floor and-"

"Take my advice and don't finish that statement," Jace whispered before gently curling around a pile of items. He looked ridiculous, but Argo had an "organized mess that may be aesthetically displeasing," but that was also "inversely as effective." He then looked at Argo and spoke again. "So when did Kibaou get admitted into an Army?"

"Oh come on, socialize for a bit before business," Argo cooed with a mischievous smile. "Why don't we flirt a bit first, hmm~?"

Jace flushed a deep shade of baker-miller pink. "Get on with it!" the blonde complained. "You're an info broker, tell me what I need to know."

Argo rolled her eyes. "500 for the whole story."

Jace nodded and began writing a message with his debts to «The Rat.» "Go on," he said after he finished typing, his cheeks gradually fading in color.

"Story has it that the «Aincrad Liberation Force» was created by an older player named Thinker. It isn't an Army with the main purpose of leveling up, but rather helping the players in «Base Camp.» Pretty much a charity organization.

"Then Thinker makes the mistake of inviting Kibaou. Cactus-head decides that they need to focus more on leveling, but convinces another member named Kobatz that it's their duty to make the other players in the Army level up. So he gets Kobatz, loyal to Thinker up until this point, to get another guy named Spiegel in, and then the three of them started training a group called the «Warlord Division.»"

There was that name again; Spiegel from the inn. Jace felt himself bristling for an unknown reason and forced himself to calm down. After all, Argo wasn't finished.

"Currently the «ALF» is about to become the setting for a power struggle, and with over a thousand members in the Army, it'll change the face of Aincrad as we know it."

At this point, Argo seemed to be happier. "I also have information in regards to the «Sky Coat,»" she said with a smirk. "Two pieces, so you can add that to the total."

Jace nodded and added the numbers to the total in his feed with Argo.

"After examining the map data, Vector discovered a slight change in the shape of the mountain where you found Jeer-Lan," she explained. "It looked as if the peak had something written on it in small stones. It's an ancient dialect of Xylose so it'll take a while to translate, but as soon as I know, I'll message you.

"But who cares about what it says? The important thing right now is this: nine other landmarks have been altered since the beta test similarly to the «Lunar Mine.» That all but confirms our theory that there are multiple sets of these items. And while there are only six core stats, weapons have four which makes ten total."

"So then we should probably try to go after the other Champions," Jace said as if it was an obvious fact. But the look on Argo's face told him otherwise; she seemed to be incredibly uneasy about getting to the next fact.

"There's one last thing about the «Sky Coat,» rather, a new one," Argo grunted. "The second of the coats has been found, the «Earth Coat,» just off of the path from the main road in an altered area. It raises the DMG stat on all weapons owned by the player to ten upgrades above its actual level. In the wrong hands, it could be a deadly weapon... Which is already bad enough, considering the current owner is already a reckless psycho."

"Who found it?" Jace asked seriously.

The room was still, silent as a church on a Friday's midnight. Electric tension filled the air, and both Jace and Sinon's jaws dropped when they heard the next words fall from the girl's lips.

"Kibaou."

* * *

Author's Notes

You'll have to forgive me for the second half of the chapter's content. I was on a cruise this past weekend and was only able to write on my phone, which is much more limited than even my crappy laptop. The last quarter of the story was written on mainly the flights to the port and back home (~2700 words and some of this very A/N).

I have also downloaded all of the Sword Art Online Light Novels, so updates may slow down. Although I've watched the anime for all of the story arcs up to volume 7 (Mother's Rosario arc), I feel the need to read them all, not just the books in the Alicization arc. I hope you will forgive me for the slightly reduced speed.

Now onto the aspects of the story itself. First I'll start with Argo, then move onto the fighting styles, the day off, Jackal's reappearance, and finally Ashley as a character.

I find it incredibly hard to write Argo in character. The Argo in the manga/light novels (I didn't say anime due to the fact that she's only in one scene) enjoys teasing everyone and has a smart-mouth kind of aura. Here, I find myself unable to capture that over a lengthened period of time. To help her stay slightly in character, what I try to do is keep her joking nature outside of business, but as soon as figures come into play make her serious.

The fighting styles are a bit of an info-dump, I know. But I plan to actually use these, and it was better to implement it while the thoughts were all in my head. They won't just be there for this chapter though, I promise.

The day off was the thing took the most time of the chapter to write. The rest of it, I knocked out within a few days, but I ended up just trying to throw a bunch of stuff together to get through the day off. If it seems sloppy I apologize, but a rewrite is in this chapter's future.

Jackal's reappearance will be largely in flashbacks. Other than that, just wait and see.

Finally, we have Ashley. Ashley is a strange character to write because due to being one of the only people with a mastered Sewing skill, I feel that she should have a distinctive attitude. Due to her lack of being in the LN (that I have read so far at least), however, I don't know how her character actually is. Argo is a common theme in fanfictions, but I know of one fanfiction involving Ashley. Because of this, I have to make her my own and my own is a sassy, lofty French fashionista. I apologize if this is far from her character, but I simply have no way to know how she really is.

That's all for the A/N. Thanks for reading!

Jace's Game Data

**Level:** 22

**HP:** 1,300 (200+50xlvl=HP, where lvl=level)

**Col: **53,614

MainEquipment

**Isodex Specter-** SMG manufactured by Isodex. Gunmetal black. Real counter-part, Spectre M4

**Pyrolith Snyper-** Sniper Rifle manufactured by Pyrolith. Real counter-part, M21

**Isodex Pico-** Small, easily concealed handgun made by Isodex. Real counter-part, Beretta Pico

**Ivory Jeans-** Durable Jeans handcrafted by Ashley.

**Blue IGAF Shirt-** Blue shirt with the IGAF Insignia on the chest

**Sky Coat-** White long-coat with blue markings and words written in Xylose. Maxes AGI stat to the wearers current level.

**Mk II Crimson Wave-** Mid-level Energy Shield available on Ianides. When depleted, emits a red energy field that paralyzes most Xylotes within a ten meter radius for fifteen seconds.

Skill Slots: 8

Skills (Basic 0-249 pts, Advanced 250-499 pts, Proficient 500-749 pts, Expert 750-999 pts, Master 1000 pts)

**Sub Machine Gun-** Makes the user more efficient in Sub Machine Guns. 421

**Eavesdropping-** Allows the user to listen in on conversations from farther away. 332

**Searching- **Allows the user to find people and tracks easier. 398

**Hiding- **Makes the user more difficult to detect. 351

**Extended Weight Limit- **Increases the amount of weight one can have in their inventory. 206

**Regeneration- **Allows the user to regenerate a set amount of HP every ten seconds. 328

**Picking- **The ability to pick locked doors and chests. 402

**Sprint-** Allows the user to shoot forward set amounts of distance at superhuman speeds. 121


	6. The Second Clearing

Disclaimer: I appreciate and honor the fact that you are taking the time to read my story. I thank you for any reviews, follows, and favorites. Please enjoy this story after the following disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own any of its characters. Sword Art Online belongs to Reki Kawahara, ASCII Media Works, and the SAO Project. Please support the official release. Reviews, Follows, and Favorites are highly appreciated.

Character Ages

Kirito- 16 (October 7th, 2008)

Asuna- 17 (September 30th, 2007)

Sinon- 16 (January 17th, 2009)

Jace- 17 (February 13th, 2008)

* * *

Chapter 6

Wednesday, December 12th, 2022. Continent: Ianides. Outskirts of Babel.

A thin mist rolled over the ground just meters from the city of Babel. The faint sunlight cast a shadow through the fog, shrouding the area in a mysterious aura that seemed that seep into the players around Kirito. Though they had done this before, the conditions caused by the rainfall from the night before made the players slightly uneasier than the time before. And in the midst of it all, Kirito was deep in thought as he waited for the time to reach exactly 6:00 in the morning–when they would all storm in and take the city.

It was funny that all of the other players felt uneasy, Kirito thought. After all, he–along with the Army called «The School of Swordsmen»–were the ones that had to move the fastest. The only people that would have trouble were the Stormers, who would be dashing about and shooting at anything green that moved in just under fifteen minutes. Internally, the boy hoped that Kibaou, who was speaking arrogantly to members in his Squadron just to Kirito's right, would be mistaken due to the green helmet and combat pants, but his brown long-coat made him much less likely to be thought of as a Xylote.

Kirito glanced over at Asuna, who looked like she'd gotten a nicer Light Rifle. It was about as long as his «Pyrolith Anneal Blade,» and blacker than the sky. It gleamed in the fading moonlight as Asuna rest its barrel against the ground, not wanting to waste her strength by hefting the heavy looking rifle around. She was smart indeed; a few of the members of the «Warlord Division» seemed to be getting tired from lugging around their ironically named light machine guns. She caught sight of him and waved with a serious look. Had the situation not been so tense, she might have smiled. After all, there were only a few moments until they'd be heading out. The only person who _didn't_ look tense at all was directly beside her.

The leader of the «Knights of the Blood Oath,» known to most as Heathcliff, seemed to be doing just fine. He wasn't at all stressed by the massive obstacle in front of them, but rather seemed as though he couldn't wait, and stood there impatiently. Kirito couldn't understand the man, but in a way, he wanted to get the Clearing done as soon as possible.

Kirito looked at his squadron closely, examining every member. He was with two other Stormers, four Snipers, fifteen Commandos, ten Warlords, three Closers, and five Riflemen, along with an equal number of NPC's in each group–a unit made up of forty NPC's and players that included his friends along with various others. Out of the four-hundred people/NPC's in the Clearers, Kirito could say with confidence he'd gotten an upper-level group of players that wouldn't need to be babysat.

The ten groups each were planned to take a «District» in the city, of which there were ten: Agrarian, Business, Economic, Educational, Entertainment, Governmental, Historical, Market, Military, and Residential. Each of them was about a kilometer in area give or take, and with the density of Xylotian residents, there would be anywhere from two hundred to five hundred in each of the sectors. Kirito's team's target was the «Historical District,» which wouldn't be too full if Argo's research was correct.

Before he had time to think about the specifics of the plan any further, Heathcliff–who had become a type of general in regards to the Clearers–raised a hand and made a gesture recognized by most military groups as the "Forward" command. Without second thought, each of the four hundred players moved forward with their squadrons to their destinations with the NPC's in tow; they only had ten minutes to get into position, nine when they considered that they would have to be ready to storm at precisely 6:00 AM.

Kirito was unsure how the NPC's could follow Heathcliff's orders immediately. Due to their coding, they should have moved at about the time when they recognized the other soldiers moving forwards. This would have been a lag of about a second or two, but the NPC's moved just like a regular player would. The boy shrugged it off though and he and his troops moved to the northern side of the city.

Each Major city was made up of the ten «Districts,» but they looked different in every city. With a skill Argo had learned–«Domestication»–she used a neutral bug/rodent cross of a mob called a «Vermite» to scout the city. The city had the same basic setup as Nefaria, but with a few minor details in buildings. This would be no problem for «The Rat,» however, as she had trained the «Vermite» to map each district. Thanks to this, Kirito and his Squadron had an accurate map of their objective.

Kirito nodded at Jace, who had the largest presence in their squadron, and materialized the map data on a large poster-type material. The blonde then stood up and moved in front of everyone.

"Alright, Beta Team," he started with a slight yawn. "Let's go over the plan one more time. Each of you is going to be put into a Squadron depending on your fighting style. The names are gonna be «Fighting-style-name Division» with the exception of the Sniper unit, which will be referred to as «Overwatch.» None of the alpha beta gamma shit that Heathcliff makes us use."

At this, some of the other Soldiers chuckled. But Jace continued, not letting the situation get too far from the seriousness that it deserved.

"We Stormers are going to be going along the wall until we get to the center of the southern side, when we'll go back up to the heart of the district where the coliseum is. Then we'll go down the middle there, and head out generally, killing the rest of the Xylotes.

"Riflemen and Closers are going to be working very closely together, and I _do_ indeed see what I did there," Jace continued, stopping them from laughing at his unintentional pun before they could start. "The «Rifleman Division» will storm in and head directly to the heart of the «District» to the coliseum. There, your job is to set up Operation Base for a while until we, the «Stormer Division,» can get back from our mission.

"The «Commando Division» will escort the «Rifleman Division» to the coliseum and guard them while they get set up. Once they _are_ set up, leave them in the care of the «Closer Division» and head to the southern edge of the District. Then split up into two groups, one with Bellator as leader, and the other as Kane.

"The «Stormer Division» will be traveling around the edges of the «District» to the southern side before coming back up to the middle. There are six players and six NPCs, so each team gets three of each. Kirito and I will travel with an NPC and take the east side to escort Kratos and Sinon to the northwest and southwest towers respectively. The other half of you will. Then we'll meet up with the others at the south side before heading to the center where we'll rendezvous with the «Commando Division.»

"«Overwatch,» you will each be given an NPC partner and take one of the towers at each corner of the «Historic District.» Your first priority is to guard our asses in the «Stormer Division.» If we're in the clear, then move on to trouble spots with the «Commando Division» before taking out standalone Xylotes. Then the hunting order is Xylotes with Weapons, high level Xylotes, and then everyone else.

"Finally, we have the «Warlord Division.» Your mission is to provide us with support from our flanks. Even with protection we'll still get shot, and if «Regeneration» isn't enough to take care of the HP loss then we'll rely on you to be «Medics.» Then once we meet up with the «Commando Division,» we'll need you to take care of the «Rifleman and Closer Divisions.»"

Kirito watched as Jace took a deep breath and wiped away imaginary sweat. "Any questions before we head out?" But as the two looked over the crowd, not a single hand was raised. "In that case we should have about two or three more minutes until the Clearing starts, but I just want to say one more thing.

"More importantly than fighting hard, be conscious of where you are: on the front lines of the battle for the liberation of all players," Jace finished. "Fight safely. Always guard the person to your right, and take his safety as a priority. Give up the EXP from the Xylote far away, even if it's an easy kill to protect your teammate."

The soldiers in front of the blonde nodded before turning to each other and nodding what could have been their final salutes to each other. Kirito walked to the boy who had been selected as a team leader and reached for a high five. "You did really well going over the plan," he said. "It only _looks_ really complicated, but I actually understand."

Jace nodded. "I figure with four Player-Snipers in each corner of the map, we have a better chance of taking care of everyone's blind spots," He said, checking the clock in the upper-left hand corner of his vision. "Only about a minute left now. You ready?"

"Yeah," Kirito answered. "You?"

"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

Kirito found his response confusing. Jace was likely only second to him and perhaps Heathcliff in terms of prowess. His first thought had been that the blonde had spoken with sarcasm, but looking up at the boy's haggard eyes revealed that he was as serious as the grave. How could he be unprepared? "Are you worried?" the raven-haired boy asked.

"Look at these people, Kirito," Jace whispered. "Every one of them has someone that will miss them if they go. No matter if they're good or bad, policeman or murderer, every one of them has a loved one. If any of them die due to my plan, how could I bear the weight on my shoulders? It's my duty to make sure every last one of them logs out after the final battle on Oablion. It's my duty to make sure they arrive safely at home."

This was a man that was put in a position of power, as temporary as it was, and hated it. It ate at his soul. How could it be that he hated something so widely sought out over the world?

Before Kirito answer his own question, the clock in his vision reached 6:00 AM.

Resisting the urge to cry out in battle, the soldiers headed to the gate where two Xylotes stood guard. From Kirito's right came a flash followed immediately by a loud crack as one of the Snipers fired a round into the one on the right. Kirito himself activated a Sword Skill called «Rage Spike» to take care of the second guard, leaping forward as he was shrouded by the red light and slashing upward under the alien's armpit.

The inside of the «Historic District» was as Kirito had seen from Jace's map: rectangular in shape, about one hundred meters east to west and two hundred north to south. From the northern entrance, the coliseum–which took up about an eighth of the district–was already visible along with the four towers in each corner.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Kirito saw a flash and instinctively rose his «Pyrolith Anneal Blade» to block the shot–narrowly saving Jace from a bullet in the chest. On top of the wall twenty meters to Kirito's right was a Xylote bearing a Light Rifle. It let out a screech and steadily, alien after alien came crawling from the woodworks.

"«Rifleman, Closer, and Commando Divisions,» to the center!" Jace called over the alarms that had started going off. "«Stormer and Warlord Divisions» and «Overwatch A,» on me! Move, move, move!"

For now, Kirito didn't have to worry too much about Xylotes, as the ones that were starting to come towards them were too far away for him to stab at. He could take out the one on the wall, however. If he could just get a running start…

"Jace!" Kirito shouted. "I've got the one on the wall!"

"I'll cover you!" the blonde replied as he knelt on the ground to stabilize his shots. He turned to the wall where the Xylote that had ruined his plan came from and fired at some of the ones who were protecting him from the ground. "Go now!"

Kirito nodded and dashed towards the corner at an angle. _I should have the stability,_ he thought as he gritted his teeth an increased his speed. _If I can just get there untouched…_

Kirito saw a red light in front of his face and instantly ducked, sliding on his knees as a bullet flew past his face. He silently thanked Kayaba for implementing the «Bullet Prediction Line» and rolled, pushing himself up. The sound of shattering glass in the distance told him that Jace had indeed protected him–though almost too late.

The raven-haired swordsman was only about ten meters to the wall when a Xylote jumped in front of him, slashing at the boy's legs. Kirito barely managed to jump over before swinging his sword at the green alien with a powerful «Slant» attack. Much to Kirito's surprise–and dismay–the Xylote blocked with a «Plasmid Sword» of his own. An HP bar sprung to life in front of the boy's eyes along with a name: «Xylotian Knight.»

Kirito groaned and threw his body to the right as the knight stabbed directly where his face had been a half second ago, then jumped over the low swing that followed immediately after. He dashed to the side and hacked down with another «Slant,» but the green homoreptillian intercepted the blade with his own before giving another stab at Kirito's stomach.

Kirito parried and swung with a «Vertical» that the knight flicked back up before cutting down at his head. Kirito raised his sword blocking the blow before moving in for another stab, this time driving the point into the knight's shoulder. Only about a fifth of the green lizard's HP went dark and he seemed to just get faster after the strike.

Kirito ducked under the blue sword of his opponent and spun, swinging his «Pyrolith Anneal Blade» in a full circle that the knight couldn't jump over. It whittled away another tenth, sending the alien into the blue zone that marked less than seventy-five percent. Then the knight went on the offensive, slashing at Kirito's hip. The boy blocked the sword with a firm grip before slashing up into the alien's face, who dodged all by a hair of the blade, chipping away a miniscule amount of ammo.

Suddenly a blur of red filled the Black Swordsman's vision and he grabbed the Xylote's arm, swinging himself around the surprisingly muscular body before hearing a bullet from the alien at the top of the wall splash into its stomach. The knight dropped to fifty percent, but seemed to not lose its concentration as it slashed at Kirito's shoulder.

With a duck and a slash at the legs to try and confirm the theory, Kirito found that he could only use the same move once without the knight catching on. The «Xylotian Knight» then stabbed at Kirito's stomach which the boy only managed to evade by an awkward half body throw, followed by a «Vertical» that the knight easily blocked, even countering with a «Horizontal» that bit into Kirito's shoulder.

The boy's HP fell to the blue zone, but he didn't care. He stabbed hard at the Xylote, following the point of its own blade. A risky move, but worth it overall; the two swords met and the «Xylotian Knight» took a blow to his HP before faltering due to a «Stun Effect.» This was all the boy needed to cut down the knight into the red zone. Running forward, Kirito plunged the blade deep into the knight's stomach. He pulled it through the now dead body's side and sheathed it, continuing until the body shattered to sprint at the wall again.

Carefully but quickly, Kirito jumped up, throwing his feet to the each of the two walls and using his hands to climb up. A bullet hit the boy in his forearm, but thankfully his energy shield took bullet damage. «Plasmid Swords» were the only type of weapon that passed the protection of an energy shield.

With continued vigor, Kirito climbed the rest of the way up the wall and threw Jace a glance. The Xylotes were definitely getting closer to his position–which had moved much closer to the corner–but the raven-haired soldier had to take care of the «Royal Guardian» atop the wall that was now staring at him. With a screech, it raised its gun and fired three times.

Time seemed to slow down for Kirito as the bullets moved closer. With the «Bullet Prediction Line» his best friend as usual, he twisted his body around one, blocked the second, and threw his head to the side to dodge the third. Then, in a Japanese near-salute stance, the boy's sword began to glow and he rushed forward, aided by the system as his sword found its way to the heart of the «Royal Guardian.»

Without any further delay, the Black Swordsman dashed off the wall and dove to Jace's position, blocking a bullet from the back of the blonde's head. "I thought you said you were going to guard me!" Kirito said jokingly as he guarded Jace with his sword. "I got hit once!"

"I saved your ass from four other Xylotes!" Jace said with a smirk. "What's your total body count, three? Four, maybe?"

At that moment, two bullets flew at Kirito and he swiped at them with his sword, sending them away parallel to the ground. With the angles that they had been hit, they quickly found their way into two different Xylotes–which shattered immediately. "Five actually, if you want to count those as separate kills," he said.

"Showoff," Jace muttered as he shot the last Xylote in the alley. "Kratos, are you in position?"

"Affirmative," came the voice from the Squadron System Assist. "Kratos is in position. Beginning reign of terror."

Immediately a bullet sliced through the air from the top of a large tower. It flew between Kirito and Jace's faces before crashing against a stealthy «Night Xylote» that they hadn't even seen. Apparently, neither had the «Warlord Division,» as they appeared to be too busy focusing on distant enemies. Then it shattered.

"«Warlord Division!»" Jace barked. "Your job is to guard our asses, _not_ to gain a few hundred more «Col!» Get your head into it! Now it's time to move again! South side, go!"

A few of the soldiers grunted a reply, but one looked toward them and dashed over. "Here to provide medical assistance, _sir!_ How may I be of service?"

"Kirito is in need of some quick HP," Jace said, walking hurriedly southwards along the wall. He looked down the alleyway coming up and then dashed past before continuing. "Then if you could also get your leader, Kingston, we'd be all good. I'm fine."

Kirito glanced at Jace, but there was no indication of any injury on his body.

Without much of a wait, the entire «Stormer and Warlord Divisions,» along with Sinon, moved south along the wall. Sinon focused on the enemies that were at trouble spots later on in the path, with Kratos at the top of the northwestern tower doing the same. The «Warlord Division» seemed to be having a tough time handling the enemies as they got closer, but those in the «Stormer Division» quickly maneuvered around the Xylotes, racking up kills.

Kirito now fully understood why the two divisions had been put together. Most of the «Warlord Division» carried light machine guns–ironically named due to their average weight of fifteen pounds–which had excessive stopping power but lacked mobility. They were difficult to lug around, let alone aim at fast targets close-by. The «Stormer Division» carried smaller guns that could be easily aimed at anyone that came near due to their lower weight. Though they lacked the stopping power of their larger brethren, they more than made up for it with their quick aim.

Kirito continued fighting through the thoroughfares of Babel, plasma cutting through Xylote after Xylote. The reptilian flesh burned and sizzled under his blade, slicing searing scars into their bodies before the let out shrill screams and shattered into prismatic polygons. Kirito didn't let the stench of their burning flesh faze him; he just continued on like a helicopter, swinging the blade of light through air and bone.

After a while of fighting, the group finally reached the southwestern tower. Where the last tower was almost as good as new, this one was nearly crumpling under its own weight. Kirito watched as Jace looked at Sinon and sighed. "Will you be alright?" He asked, his hand twitching at his side.

Sinon nodded. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me, you're the one on the ground, remember?" the girl asked with a smile. "Focus on your objective." Without another word, the girl with icy blue hair walked into the open doorway and disappeared in the shadows of the ruinous building.

"She'll be fine," Kirito said, glancing at Jace's hand that seemed to almost gravitate toward the sniper. "Trust me. For now though, we have to worry about getting to the rendezvous point and meeting up with the «Commando Division.»"

Jace nodded slowly and raised his gun, turning toward his objective. Then over the Squadron Assist, he called out to everyone. "Western Overwatch has set up, I repeat, Western Overwatch has set up."

"Thank you, Jace," came the voice of Asuna. "Operations Base is set up as well. We're holding them back, and the «Commando Division» should be at the rendezvous point in two minutes if they haven't had too much trouble."

"We'll be a bit late," the voice of the «Commando Division's» leader, Bellator said. "We ran into a solid wall of the greenies, but I doubt it's anything we can't handle. Wait for us at the rendezvous point."

Kirito walked forward with his group, his eyes scanning around for any sign of Xylotes. He saw another «Xylotian Knight» at the back of a small group that was facing away from him. He had to draw the alien closer; even Kirito knew that he was no match for that many. So with a deep breath he drew a firearm, the « Infiltrator» from his side.

The gun was a pistol, black in color and slightly weighty in his hands. As far as Kirito knew it was modeled after the Colt M1911, the main firearm of the United Sates Army. Its twelve round magazine was full of bullets, but the boy only needed one. It wasn't part of a group encounter; all he needed was one bullet to bring it closer.

Kirito raised the gun, remembering to keep both of his eyes open and leveled his gun horizontal to the ground. In his field of vision came a circle that had the «Xylotian Knight» in the center, but he knew it wasn't enough. He had to slow it down to something that would not likely miss. He took a deep breath and shut his eyes in an attempt to slow his heart rate. It took a moment, but he finally got it to a size he wanted; a green circle pulsated between the size of a baseball and a softball, centered on the Xylote's back armor. The raven-haired boy then spread his legs, planted his body to the ground, and fired.

The recoil shot through his arm, though it didn't throw him off much due to his high STR stat. The red Bullet Prediction Line whizzed in front of him, landing on the small of the «Xylotian Knight's» back. Within the time Kirito could take his sword in his left hand, the bullet had soared from the handgun's muzzle with a flash and rapidly barreled towards its target.

In a flash, the «Xylotian Knight» turned around and slashed the bullet clean into two separate pieces. Kirito stepped back in shock as the Xylote crouched down and threw itself forward with breakneck speed. The boy barely had time to raise his sword in a pitiful block before the alien was on top of him with a massive «Slant» that jarred Kirito's bones.

Kirito let the force of the blow send him backwards, increasing the distance between the two. The «Xylotian Knight» had exhibited incredible speed that had far surpassed his expectations. He only knew of one thing that could result in a mob that was _this fast._ But he hadn't expected to see one this early in the game–in a Clearing for a major city, no less.

«Variants» were Xylotes that were balanced differently stat-wise than most of the others of the same type. Most of the stats were low, except for one stat that was exponentially higher. They were marked by different colors depending on which stat was elevated; white for Agility, black for Strength, brown for Vitality, yellow for Dexterity, pink for Luck, and a dark orange for Charisma.

The «Xylotian Knight» was wearing armor that covered most of its milky white skin, which was why Kirito hadn't recognized it as a «Variant.» The fact that it had sliced the bullet in two had also immensely troubled him; he had shot it with a pistol. These Clearings were supposed to be balanced for the levels of the players, and with the few players that used «Plasmid Sword» type weapons, the odds of one of these players encountering this mob were slim. The only gun that could potentially kill it was a sniper's first bullet, and the odds of a sniper going for the «Xylotian Knight» were almost as slim as there being a swordsman around to encounter it.

Ever since his speech, Kirito had known that Kayaba wanted the players of GWO to clear the game. It was evident by his advice, by the implementation of the NPC Soldiers that assisted them in the Clearings, by the way he added the Bullet Prediction Line to help the players. If that was true, if it all wasn't just a ploy to screw with their heads, then why would we have added a «Variant» so damn hard to kill in the _second city_?

Kirito felt rage from his confusion coursing through his veins. Adrenaline flowed through him like a river causing his perception of time to decrease. Everything was moving slower–no, it was that his mind was processing of all the information faster. The «Xylotian Knight» moved forward slightly slower and swung its sword down in another «Slant» attack.

The raven-haired soldier swung his sword up, parallel to his chest. The swords clashed, causing sparks to fly left and right. But the swords did not halt. Kirito was already on the offensive with a hack at the «Variant's» leg. The white Xylote moved to intercept the blow, but hadn't counted on Kirito's attack to be a feint followed by a «Slant» of Kirito's own that cut from its left ribcage up to its right shoulder.

The «Xylotian Knight» stumbled backwards, barely able to keep from falling over as its HP trickled down by thirty percent. It righted itself at the last possible moment and brought its sword so that it would be perpendicular if Kirito used another «Slant.» Kirito expected something like this, but he knew a feint wouldn't affect the knight's AI and any other attack would leave him open for a brief moment. It was a game of chess with only one exception.

Not moving was an option in GWO.

Kirito circled the «Xylotian Knight» clockwise like in an old western movie, the adrenaline rushing through him making the action painfully slow. As the knight mimicked his movements, every muscle in his body was screaming for him to rush in and hack away at the white skin. The only thing stopping him was the knowledge that he was tricking the AI into thinking he preferred trickery and waiting to outright blitzes.

The «Xylotian Knight» suddenly darted five meters to the right, ending up very close to Kirito before cleaving the sword through the air at the boy's head. Kirito, however, ducked quickly under the blue light from the «Horizontal» and rolled around the white armored body in the opposite direction of the blade. He leapt up in a pirouette and sliced the blade deep from the alien's waist up to the same point where his first «Slant» ended. The knight took a harder hit from this second attack, with only half of its HP remaining.

The knight then turned to attack where he assumed Kirito would be–still in midair. But Kirito had not jumped, merely went to his full height before going back into a crouch. As soon as the white knight's sword swung a full foot above the boy's head, he came back up, driving the blade of plasma deep through the alien's armored stomach. A sick boiling noise came immediately to his ears as the monster's intestines heated far past the healthy norm. Then with a shrill screech, the «Xylotian Knight» burst apart into prisms of bright cyan light.

Kirito glanced around himself and saw that the area that he had been fighting in had been cleared by his team. Now they only had to rendezvous with the «Commando Division» a bit farther ahead. The «Stormer and Warlord Divisions» walked forward cautiously to the rendezvous point and found it empty. More than that, the «Commando Division» wasn't even nearby, if they'd followed the plan.

"Alright «Warlord Division,» we're setting up shop here for a bit," Jace called. "Kirito and I will scout the area around here."

Kirito nodded and walked up to the blonde. "I don't like this," he said quietly. "Why aren't they even in sight?"

"I'm not sure," Jace said, hefting his SMG up against his chest as if expecting someone to try and take it. "That's why I'm only suggesting that we go. If we're separated for some reason we still have more than half of us over there and we can call for backup. If they're just late and there's nothing amiss around here, we'll be back by the time they are."

Kirito nodded with an uneasy feeling still in his stomach, but Jace's calm and collected attitude despite the situation made him feel a bit better.

As the two Stormers moved forward, gunshots began to get louder. It was apparent to the duo that the «Commando Division» was just up ahead. And from the sight that Kirito could see, they had found the "rough spot" that Bellator had talked about briefly over the Squadron Assist. A crowd of close to forty Xylotes of all different kinds was gathered in front of a building where Bellator and company were holed up.

"What happened here?" Jace asked in astonishment. "They said they could handle it!"

"We get all the hard work," Kirito muttered as he turned on his sword. "Either way, it's our job to help them out."

"But we don't want to just rush in," Jace interrupted, holding Kirito back with an arm. Before Kirito could interrupt, Jace pulled a small green object similar in size to a baseball from his inventory. "We fight smarter, not harder. Observe."

Jace tapped the item twice, bringing up a blue menu screen that Kirito could only assume was the item's Graphic User Interface. His fingers moved wildly, sliding sliders, switching switches, and checking checkboxes before closing the menu and unceremoniously tossing the item into the crowd.

As soon as the item hit the ground, it exploded in a ball of fiery light that enshrouded the entire crowd. Their silhouettes were barely visible through the intense light, but Kirito wouldn't have seen them anyway; he was forced to turn away from the bright light. Jace just looked on without as much as a squint.

When the explosion subsided, Jace turned to his teammate with a grin. "I just _love_ «Photon Grenades,» don't you?"

The raven-haired boy chuckled nervously and looked over the crowd. Apparently, the grenade was a very strong item because about six of the Xylotes had been killed, ten gained a «Blindness» status effect, and all but about eight of the remaining ones had under half health. Kirito would need to purchase some of those «Photon Grenades» in the _very_ near future.

"Right, I'll take care of the ones with lower HP! You focus on the weaker ones!" Kirito announced as he dashed forward, assuming Jace agreed. He reached the edge of the mob and hacked through one Xylote into the next, like a weed-eater with too much gas. Most of the mobs he could one-shot by using a «Sword Skill» and then linking that skill into another.

The only downside to this was that «Weapon Skills» gave the user something called a «Post-Motion Delay» which rendered the player completely unable to move. The more powerful the «Weapon Skill» was or the more «Weapon Skills» were linked together, the longer a player was stuck in a state of immobility.

A surge of yellow electrical charges traveled over the Black Swordsman's skin in an almost cartoon-like manner, signifying the «Post-Motion Delay» had started. Kirito would be stuck standing still for eight whole seconds. Thankfully, since Kirito was able to guess which «Weapon Skill» was the last that could be linked, he used it to create distance between the mobs and himself. When added to the fact that Jace had his back, Kirito wasn't in any trouble at all.

The process went on for a surprisingly long amount of time. Kirito would hack through a lot of Xylotes and kill around three or four before being hit with another «Post-Motion Delay,» when Jace would again cover for him. Then as soon as he recovered Jace would go for the weaker Xylotes and Kirito would continue razing the enemy line.

Eventually, the crowd blocking the door thinned out more and more until Kirito was able to draw the last of the humanoid lizard creatures from the door. Jace kicked through the door and crawled around the makeshift barricade before disappearing in the darkness of the dome. Kirito then focused solely on his opponents.

Kirito was up against four Xylotes armed with shotguns. Each of them had just under half of their HP remaining and were leveled high enough to be considered a decent threat for any of the average players that fought in the Clearings. Luckily, Kirito was leagues ahead of even the average level for Front-liners.

Kirito felt a small red point of light on the small of his back, followed by two on his chest and a fourth on his right arm. In a split second, the boy crouched and sprang up with all his might, about four feet into the air. The shots flew all around his feet, but he didn't lose even a single Shield Point.

As the boy hit the ground in a crouch just as he had before, he brought up his sword level with his head and pointed the tip straight at one of the Xylote's that had shot at his chest. His sword glowed a deep shade of purple as he flew forward like a large bullet thanks to his «Rage Spike» attack. The system brought his sword forward all the way to the alien's body before slashing upward with a force so great, he was launched into the air. Then, pointing his sword straight down, he activated another skill called «Lightning Fall» which sent him crashing to the ground, sword penetrating deep into the ground as blue sparks radiated in every direction.

The attack itself was not strong, but «Lightning Fall» gave those in range a very brief «Paralysis Effect» that would give him just enough time for one of the attacks he saved for moments just like this: «Vertical Arc.»

«Vertical Arc» was a relatively weak attack, but the way that it created a "V" formation in the air meant that it was great for crowd combat. If Kirito aimed the skill in just the right way, he could strike two Xylotes in one hit and do a hefty amount of damage. And so, as Kirito's «Pyrolith Anneal Blade» began to glow a bright shade of red, the Black Swordsman knew that the battle would soon be over.

All three of the Xylotes that he had directly attacked shattered as soon as the light faded from his sword. Now all that remained was a single Xylote armed with a shotgun, who fell quickly due to a simple strafe-and-stab.

With the last of the enemies dispatched, Kirito glanced around in search for any other mobs in the nearby area before he returned his attention to the domed building. Something made Kirito uneasy about the dome, but his objective was to rescue the «Commando Division» and bring them back to where they had set up. Shivering off his concerns about the dimly lit building, he followed in Jace's footsteps and entered the building.

The domed building was smaller than Kirito had expected. There were a few columns that held up the floor of the second level and an array of benches with a thick layer of dust. The Black Swordsman used his «Perception» skill to check the room for any signs of life, but found none and turned his attention to the stairwell at the far end of the room.

Even without the «Tracking Mod» (which Kirito would soon get if he ground his «Perception» skill up a few more levels), Kirito could tell that a bunch of people had headed to the second floor. Footprints from what Kirito guessed were more than twenty people led up the marble-like structure of the stairs.

With caution, Kirito made his way up the stairwell, peeking around the corners. He hadn't expected to find Jace and Bellator along with the rest of the «Commando Division» sitting on benches laughing and talking.

Kirito hadn't formally met Bellator before. He had known that the leader of the «Commando Division» was in the «Order of Eternal Fire» and that he was high up in the chain of command, but he had always thought of him as a boy of maybe eighteen or nineteen.

Bellator was far from a boy of nineteen. Towering at a massive 6'8" and weighing over two hundred and thirty pounds, he could be described as nothing short of a giant man. He had the faintest of hints of stubble on his chin and had heavy armor that made him look almost like a cyborg. He had a military buzz with a black sweatband across his forehead that made him look incredibly intimidating. In his hands, he held a large Assault Rifle with what looked like a chainsaw under the barrel. It looked like a menacing tool of death, but Bellator's massive size made it seem almost like a toy.

Yet, Kirito felt oddly comfortable with the man, despite his rough appearance.

Bellator glanced in his direction before looking back at Jace. "Is this that Kirito character you've been telling me about?"

Jace nodded and stood, his giant friend rising with him. "Kirito, this is Bellator, leader of the «Commando Division» and Lieutenant Colonel of the Army «Order of Eternal Fire.» Bellator, this is Kirito, solo player and self-proclaimed Beater."

At the word "Beater," Bellator's eyes narrowed and he lumbered closer to the Black Swordsman. "So you're the Beater from the First Campaign," he said slowly.

Kirito looked up nearly a full foot at the behemoth that stood in front of him. His right hand subconsciously went back to the hilt of his «Plasmid Sword» as he bravely nodded. "Yeah; you got something to say about it?"

"I do as a matter of fact," Bellator grunted. Then his grimace changed to a smile as he continued. "You took a lot of heat off of us beta testers. For that, I particularly want to thank you. If you're ever in a jam, message me and I'll be right behind you."

Kirito froze for a moment until her realized that a friend request had popped up in front of his eyes. He cautiously accepted it before he spoke again. "Oh. Uh, thank you," he mumbled, still confused.

"Now, shall we get back to where the «Stormer and Warlord Divisions» are waiting?" Jace asked, heading to the stairs. "I'm sure they'd love to see your pretty face, Bellator."

The entire group laughed and they headed back to the others.

)-0-(

The rest of the Clearing was largely uneventful. Most of the Xylotes that hadn't already been killed by the «Stormer Division» had went for the «Rifleman Division» and been wiped out by Jace and Kirito. The group at the coliseum had held up quite well, and the teams on the other side fared just as well. There had been no deaths other than one NPC sniper who had been right behind Sinon when she dodged a bullet from a Xylote with an extremely powerful rifle, and he would regenerate even by the time they reached the third city.

The battle for the «Historic District» alone had taken their team nearly two hours and the sun was already a fair distance into the sky. Kirito wished that he had purchased shades somewhere, but he shook the thought of as soon as it came into being–they had no real use, so he would be spending his Col on a fruitless piece of garbage. Instead of thinking about sunglasses, he turned to Jace and began to speak, suddenly remembering something from the previous night.

"I saw you go and meet with Argo last night," Kirito said to the blonde. "Something up?"

Jace flinched and turned to look far into the distance. "Nothing that you need to know quite yet," he snipped. "If it_ does_ become a concern of yours, I'll tell you."

Kirito bit his lip, but didn't press any further. Jace was usually very easygoing, and if he reacted like _this,_ it must have been very important for whatever the information was to be kept a secret. The raven-haired teenager decided not to press any further.

Kirito and Jace led the others into the heart of the city as soon as they finished clearing the «Historic District» to find it already cleared by a smug looking Kibaou leaning against a wall along with his companion Spiegel. Kirito could feel Jace tensing up as they passed the duo, but he was unsure as to why. It was at this point that the Black Swordsman realized that Jace had glanced at Kibaou when asked about his meeting with Argo. Though he was curious, the raven-haired boy forced himself to forget about it and think about the event that would be coming incredibly soon.

The Opening of the Teleport Gate was an event that even players who rarely left Base Camp attended. Though the «Teleport Gate» would be opened as soon as all of the Xylotes were killed in Babel, the festive event after would celebrate the progress of a new city being available for non-combative players.

As soon as all of the teams completed their missions, Heathcliff sent a message over the Squadron Assist to meet at the heart of the «Governmental District» where the «Command Center» resided. It wasn't hard to find the tall obelisk shape from anywhere in the city, and the map data from Argo's «Termite» helped too. Only two players did not arrive at the tall tower, and though it had indeed been because they were lost, it was not because they had lost their way.

Heathcliff then brought the players a few meters away to a large disc-shaped platform. Heathcliff moved to stand on it and closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. "Activate «Teleport Gate: Babel!»"

Instantaneously, the platform began to glow a bright shade of crimson under Heathcliff's feet. A beam of the same color shot high into the sky, penetrating the clouds with intense light. When the light finally faded, Heathcliff stood still, eyes darting to the left as he–and everyone else in all of Aincrad–got the notification that Babel had been cleared.

Kirito watched as the city changed around him. The signs, previously written in Xylose, changed to a language he could read–Japanese, since the Nervegear could tell what the player's mother language was and translate other languages from Earth even as words were being actively spoken with virtually no lag time. NPC's began walking out of homes previously inhabited by Xylotes.

The city of Babel was a beautiful city, indeed.

Players streamed in from the «Teleport Gate» that hadn't even ventured outside of the walls of Base Camp. Merchants came by, looking for potential stores where they could sell their wares to the occasional passerby or find NPC stores with merchandise they could use. A girl with bright pink hair passed them by, and Kirito watched her for a moment before returning his attention to where he was walking.

As soon as the clock struck nine in the morning, the players gathered around Heathcliff to listen to him speak–he was the one who would start the ceremony of the Opening of the Teleport Gate. All was quiet for a brief moment as Heathcliff collected himself, preparing for his first big speech to anyone aside from the Clearers or members of his own Army.

"Friends," Heathcliff started, just loud enough for everyone to hear him. "On this day, we have won, but not without cost. Today, two soldiers died fighting for our freedom. These were real people with families and friends. I knew both of these soldiers personally, and I can say without a doubt that Isuke and Kotaru fought to the very end. They will be missed.

"But we cannot allow ourselves to merely dwell in the sadness that comes from death," he continued, growing louder slowly. "We must continue fighting so that their sacrifices–no, so that their lives–are not spent in vain. We must continue fighting for their sake and for the sake of the thousands of others who have died in this accursed game of death and demise.

"So on this day, rejoice as we come closer to our ultimate goal. We _will_ clear this game and we _will_ make it back to the real world!" Heathcliff finished in a shout. Then, he raised his LMG in one hand and cheers rang through the crowd. This would be an event for the newspapers in Aincrad, Kirito was certain.

The party raged on for close to another hour. As the sun began to set on the horizon, Kirito looked towards the crowd and began thinking. Everyone was having fun here, but he felt oddly out of place. Even though he'd killed nearly fifty Xylotes, he still felt the need to close himself in from the festivities. He decided it was about time to leave. But just as he walked to the western gate that led to the town of «Whiteshadow,» a voice called him by name.

"Kirito!"

The voice was silky and smooth, sending shivers up Kirito's back as he turned around. In her full glory stood Asuna, the girl he had fought with only a few short weeks ago against «Sergeant Illfang» and his sentinels. And of course she was as beautiful as always in her elegant uniform given to her by the «Knights of the Blood Oath» and their leader.

"Hey, were are you going?" she asked. "There's still so much stuff to be done!"

Kirito shrugged and turned back to where the inn was. "I'm not much of one for festivities," he said weakly. "I'll take pictures though if you insist."

"No, dummy!" She laughed. "You have to stay for until the night or you miss the best stuff!"

Kirito looked back at the gate, shifting his weight between his legs subconsciously. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again; he had no reason to argue for his leave other than the real reason.

"Come on, Kirito!" Asuna begged. "You don't want to miss the night life. As soon as the new merchants get settled in, they make bargains! I got a «Plasmid Sword» of my own, a «Rapier Type» one, for only 13,000 Col!"

At this, Kirito's eyes lit up. "You got a «Plasmid Sword» too? But you were using a Light Rifle in the Clearing."

"Just because I bought it doesn't mean I use it frequently. It's more for defense against other players than anything." With that she frowned and cocked her head ever so slightly, staring into Kirito's eyes. "Kirito, I've been meaning to ask… Why do you use a sword? Wouldn't it be safer to use a gun? I know they cut through Energy Shields, but is it really that much of an advantage?"

"I'd say so for sure. Besides, I already have experience with swords from practicing kendo back home," Kirito began to explain. "Plus, they're a lot better than guns at this stage if you're leveled up high enough…"

"Well maybe you could teach me how to use one before the next Clearing?" Asuna asked with a smile. "If it's as much of an advantage as you say it is, it must be worth it."

Kirito suddenly felt something in his stomach. Asuna, a higher-up in the «Knights of the Blood Oath» was asking him to teach her how to use a sword? He knew several guys that would kill to have a chance for the same opportunity–Asuna was one of the more famous female players in the game.

"Well it's really risky, so maybe if you get to a really high level I can teach you in the low-level hunting grounds where there's as little risk as possible," Kirito explained.

Instantly, Asuna's hands were at his collar, gripping him tightly. A look of fury rang through her eyes. "Do you think I'm too weak to take care of myself?" she hissed. "I killed twenty Xylotes today by myself; I can hold my own!"

"No!" Kirito squeaked, waving his hands in front of his face as he turned the same color as strawberry ice-cream. "I just know a ton of guys who would kill me if I got you killed because you're–"

"Because I'm what?" Asuna demanded, tightening her grip.

"Really attractive!" Kirito yelped. Suddenly, Asuna's grip loosened greatly and Kirito nearly fell back on his rear. She looked like she was about to hit him, but he held his hands up again, saying "that's what they say!"

Asuna nodded thoughtfully, breathing hard. Then, she unclenched her fists and took a deep breath. "I suppose that's okay… Thank you."

Kirito nodded and sighed deeply. "Yeah, of course."

Asuna then walked forward, extending a hand to help the Black Swordsman to his feet. "Listen, Kirito, I'm staying here and–this isn't a move, but–I don't want to walk around alone. There are a lot of weird guys out tonight, and despite the fact that the «Ethics Code» protects people from being harassed, I don't want to be put in the situation to begin with again; an old guy already tried to grab me. Would you come with me just until about ten o'clock tonight?"

Kirito felt something in his stomach leap. All of a sudden he felt light-headed and warm in his cheeks. He had been caught off-guard by her sudden offer, and he really wasn't opposed to it. But at the same time, it was much safer for him if he just moved on, making as few connections as possible. He had already left a player named Klein, the leader of a small Army called «Fuurinkazan» behind and he had been the closest thing to a friend Kirito had had in a long time. He began to stammer as she grabbed his hand and pulled him up slowly. "Um, I mean–I could uh–if you want, I–"

"Great!" Asuna said with a bright smile, turning around and skipping away. "Come on, we've got stuff to do!"

Suddenly Kirito realized what he had agreed to and groaned. "No, wait–ugh. And she's gone." Then with a sigh, the Black Swordsman followed the girl with chestnut hair into the market district.

* * *

Author's Notes

Okay, so the Clearing was pretty fun to write, but it took a _lot_ of time and effort. I'm almost certain that there were a lot of flaws, but I'm gonna do my best to explain everything that doesn't make a lot of sense and fix what needs to be fixed. But first, the news.

We have our first OC! Meet Bellator, the Lieutenant Colonel of the «Order of Eternal Fire.» I really liked the character, from the model to what I think he can add. His OC App was just right and I have no problem writing him (even if only in small doses so far). If I had to make a comparison to what I plan for him to be, I would say he'll be to Jace what Agil is to Kirito. Granted, few OC's if any will be given main character status, but Bellator is about as close to a main as I plan to get.

Second, I'm thinking about changing the format of the future chapters from one character to multiple points of views. The focus would still be on mainly one character, but others would be added in between a few places, much like in Catsy's _Fairy Dance of Death._ The characters of Asuna and potentially Argo would also be included if I change the format to multiple viewpoints. The only thing is, I would also have to take out the stats at the end, but I like those and I think others do too. So I will be making a poll on my profile on whether I should keep the chapters the way they are or change the format. I will only leave it open for a week so that I can start on the chapter either way it turns out, because that means it'll be about a month until the next chapter is released, probably half way into March or even early April, considering the date is February 2nd and I'll be busy with a school thing for the first two weeks of March. (A side poll will also be up on Kirito and Asuna/Jace and Sinon)

Now moving onto the areas that I'm going to clarify. I'm going to start with the question that everyone's been asking: Why a sword? Kirito uses a sword for several reasons: first because he practiced kendo for years and was quite good at it before he stopped playing; second because «Photon Sword» type weapons can pass through Energy Shields; and third because he used them when they were introduced in the beta test and liked the feel of them, so he never stopped using them. In essence, he is more comfortable with swords than guns and, as explained in the last chapter, being comfortable is the most important thing in a game where a slip-up can mean eternal death.

Secondly, why was Jace just sitting and chatting with the «Commando Division?» Isn't he a leader blah blahblah blahblah? Yes, he is a leader which is exactly why he did this. What happened off-screen (which isn't quite an applicable term in this case, but whatever), away from Kirito's point of view was Jace calming down the «Commando Division.» They had been cornered by more than forty Xylotes, one of which was faster than any mob they'd seen in the game. At that point, they panicked a bit and rushed off. Jace took the time to calm them down and say they were being rescued.

Now that those two are out of the way, let's get onto the smaller things. Fluff, Kirito's kill-count, the meeting with Argo which was never truly described, Jace's door kick, Photon Grenades, and Variants.

There was a fair amount of fluff for a chapter filled with mostly action. We had a little moment with Jace and Sinon and a fluffy ending between Kirito and Asuna. At this point, I think it would be safe to say that Kirito finds Asuna attractive in her Army's get-up, and the scene at the tower was fairly obvious IMO; Sinon could have been killed by another Xylotian sniper and Jace could have easily been killed by a Xylote. That could have been their last goodbye, and Jace is already a mess since he's been put into a leadership role… which will come up later. *Evil smirk*

Kirito's kill-count seems a bit excessive at nearly fifty, especially if there were maybe four hundred Xylotes in the «Historic District.» He did engage in the encounter where it was forty Xylotes versus him and Jace though too, so he got about twenty five or thirty there–especially when you leave the last ones that Jace ran out on. Then add about ten or so more from traveling along the western wall and ten on the other two walls.

The meeting with Argo will be seen as a flashback from Jace's point of view in the next chapter, don't worry. I _will_ get to it.

Now the next question: If Jace could kick down the door, why couldn't a Xylote just bring it down? And the answer is that they were working on it, but the average level of monsters in the Clearing is about level six or seven. Jace is level twenty-two. As a level twenty two player, his STR stat is _much_ higher than the Xylotes, who had even weakened it almost completely for him. One final push and Jace had it taken care of.

Moving onto the Photon Grenades, _yes they are hella overpowered. _They are also _hella expensive_ at 2,500 Col a piece_._ I've got it all levelled out, don't worry. On a side note, the sliders that you didn't get to see has a variety of effects, such as increasing the blast radius at the cost of some power, adding a «Blindness Effect» and a timer/setting to make it stick or not.

Finally, we arrive at the Variants. I feel that I explained this pretty well, but the essence is that they have a boosted stat like Jace's AGI stat due to the «Sky Coat.» Their skin is a different color corresponding to the stat that is boosted, and they have a limited sense of AI.

I appreciate the time that you took to read the story. Please ask any questions you may have (especially ones I've neglected to answer in these notes) in the reviews. I appreciate the follows and favorites, and I _really_ appreciate 1.6K views. Signing off…

Artie Ross

Kirito's Game Data

Level: 28

HP: 1,600 (200+50xlvl=HP, where lvl=level)

Col: 40,725

Pyrolith Anneal Blade- A variant of the Plasmid Sword, used by a group of beta testers called the School of Swordsmen. Not ideal for use without hours of practice.

Isodex Infiltrator- Entry level pistol with low stats; ideal for players below level 14. Real counter-part, Colt M1911.

Black Jeans- Black Jeans with no stat boost.

Black IGAF Shirt- Black shirt with the IGAF Insignia on the chest.

Coat of Midnight- Black long-coat with studded shoulders. The Last Attack Bonus from the first Planetary Boss, «Sergeant Illfang».

Kryptus Type 2- Mid-level Energy Shield available on Ianides. Has a low health, but gives the wearer a +6 DEX boost. Ideal for players below level 16.

Skill Slots: 8 (6+1xlvl = Skill Slots where lvl=10 levels)

Skills (Basic Mastery 0-249 pts, Advanced Mastery 250-499 pts, Proficient Mastery 500-749 pts, Expert Mastery 750-999 pts, Mastered 1000 pts)

**Plasmid Sword-** Makes the player more proficient in the use of Plasmid Sword-type weapons. 526

**Sprint-** Allows the player to sprint forward a set distance at superhuman speeds. 213

**Regeneration-** Allows the player to regenerate a set amount of health every ten seconds. 320

**Extended Weight Limit-** Allows the player to carry more weight on their person. 241

**Perception-** Allows the player to find other players using the «Stealth» skill. 268

**Acrobatics-** Allows the player to perform acrobatic techniques. 124

**Unarmed-** Allows the player to inflict large amounts of damage with their hands. 142

**Stealth-** Allows the player to hide from other players easier. 513


	7. The Aincradian Christmas

**EDIT: 3/8/2015- STORY CHANGES FROM THE WORDS "WAIT UNTIL CHRISTMAS."**

**Author's Notes**

Been a long time since I put one of these at the beginning of a chapter.

So normally, I would have a full length chapter out by now, by I messed up and asked you guys to decide things. I put up three polls on my profile, and two were answered… by two each who had differing opinions. We had one to one ties. So instead of having it open to everyone, I increased the pressure and asked three people each of the three questions. The results will be posted at the end of the chapter.

I'm sorry for the delay–as well as the short chapter, but this brings me to my next point: every six chapters I will be throwing in a mini-chapter. These chapters will be much shorter; only around five thousand words each, and will not pertain to the actual plot. Instead, they will be side stories with no real relevance–in this case, a bit of classic cotton candy fluff. The reason for these chapters will be so that I can get out content without having to work on plotline stuff. I did, however promise that I would resolve the cliffhanger from Chapter 5, so you can still have a _bit_ of plot with your fluff.

Also, this will be the Christmas special, despite the fact that it's over two months late.

Disclaimer: I appreciate and honor the fact that you are taking the time to read my story. I thank you for any reviews, follows, and favorites. I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own any of its characters. Sword Art Online belongs to Reki Kawahara, ASCII Media Works, and the SAO Project. Please support the official release.

Character Ages

Kirito- 14 (October 7th, 2008)

Asuna- 15 (September 30th, 2007)

Sinon- 14 (January 17th, 2009)

Jace- 15 (February 13th, 2008)

Chapter 7: Christmas on Aincrad

Tuesday, December 11th 2022. Continent: Ianides. Outskirts of Babel.

"_What_?" Jace shouted. "_Kibaou_ has one of the ten coats?"

Argo hushed him. "That brings me to my point," she whispered. "We only know of two coats for sure that have been found. And about ten minutes before you came, I finished translating the words near where I think the rest of the coats are." With that, the girl handed him a sheet of paper.

"'The Champions shall engage in a tournament of massive scale.'" Jace looked up at Sinon. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Sinon shrugged. "It sounds like a type of mission or something that Kayaba implemented, but I don't know much about the lore of Aincrad," she claimed, turning to Argo. "You've gotta know about the legends and stuff though, right Argo?"

A gleam flashed through Argo's eyes. "Why yes, I do," she said with her ever-present smirk. "I'll give you the information–and the books where you can find even more–for 2,500 Col: 1,000 for the books, and 1,500 to tell you that you need to know from them."

Jace nodded solemnly and opened up a trade menu. He added all of his debts together and set them in the outgoing slot. Argo's smile grew wider as she promptly placed about thirty books in the outgoing slot. "Geez, how many subjects do these books cover?" Jace asked, eyes wide as small saucers as he confirmed the trade.

"The first ten are about Xylotian history and civilization, the next five are their mythology, the next five are about the Human-Xylotian Era, and the last ten make up one complete encyclopedia on the creatures of the planet–one for every continent," Argo explained. "I can confidently say that these books contain everything you may want to learn, except for an item called a «Codex.» That may make it a bit tough for you, Jace, considering it translates Xylose to readable languages."

Jace grumbled. Without a «Codex,» he would have about twenty pounds of books taking up space in his inventory. And though the books had been relatively cheap for their rarity–since books written in Xylose could only be found in dungeons or Xylotian houses, before the settlements where they resided were cleared–they were useless unless Jace could read Xylose.

"How much does a «Codex» cost?" Jace asked Argo.

"I'll sell you one of mine for 5,000 Col." Argo grinned at her customer with a twinkling gleam in her eyes. "They are rare items after all–rarer than Xylotian books."

Sinon giggled as Jace huffed at the exorbitant price but paid anyway. "Thank you for your patronage," Argo cackled. "Now, I still owe you the story, correct?"

Jace nodded and sat up in his chair. "Tell me everything you can about the legend in regards to the tournament."

Argo nodded and opened a book written in what was unmistakably Xylose. "First we start with the Ages of Aincrad, of which there are five. The «Destiny Era» came first and is the time when most of the mythology happened. Then came the «Birth Era», when Xylotians came into being. Third came the «Golden Era», where they advanced technologically at an astonishing pace. After that comes the «Xylo-Human Era,» when humans came to Aincrad in search of life. The last one, which we are currently in, is the «Battle Era»."

"In the «Destiny Era,» there were ten beings known as the Oblivia," Argo stated. "They're worshipped as gods by the more civilized Xylotes. Listed in order of power, they are: Letratex the Nimble, Zarael the Swift, Abaya the Strong, Grimthez the Stable, Nagrust the Bold, Pyrend the Noble, Nazure, Tectus, Jeptim, and Mangyrst. Kind of like Greek Olympians, there are different levels; Letratex, Zarael and Abaya are at the top, the next three are under them, and those without titles are below them. Then come the other gods and heroes and all that. The likelihood that you'll be able to remember all of those is about zero though, so only worry about two: Zarael–Jeer-Lan's Patron, and now yours–and Grimthez–Kibaou's Patron.

"According to _Xylotian Mythology, Volume 2_, after the Oblivia created everything, they each picked one Xylote and made them champions. These champions were just about immortal, but they could still be killed in battle by someone stronger. And so, the gods decided that one day, in a grand dick-measuring contest, they would throw down and see who had the best champion. The rule was that only three could remain, and so–surprise, surprise–the Big Three won. The rest picked new champions and vowed to square off again in ten thousand years on the continent of Oablion.

"That moment is a short two years from now," Argo finished. "And the markings on your «Sky Coat» say _Champion of Zarael_."

)-0-(

Tuesday, December 24th 2022. Continent: Ianides. Mirian.

Jace opened his eyes at three o'clock on Christmas Eve to the melody of celestial strings. The blonde shut off his alarm lazily and crawled out of his bed, looking over to Sinon, who was asleep in the other bed. "I'll be back," he said quietly to her sleeping form. Sinon, however,

Jace teleported to Asfos in front of Ashley's store. Today, Jace would be embarking on the most important mission he had been on to-date. If he got anything wrong, it would mean his demise. If he got everything perfectly, hit everything accurately, and destroyed every challenge in his path… he would be golden.

More important than any Boss he had defeated was buying Sinon something nice for Christmas.

Back when Jace had first escorted Sinon to her tower, he had wanted nothing more than to spot her, to be with her as she sat down to snipe at the other Xylotes. They were a team; Jace thought it was his responsibility to protect her. When she left that day, the worst of all possibilities flashed through his mind. What if a Xylote had taken out her spotter silently? What if he wasn't there to protect her when said Xylote attacked her from behind? What if she had died? What would he do without her? He would have been without a partner for God knows how long. He'd been on a team for so long that he'd forgotten how to go solo. Even worse than that, he'd be without Sinon, who he couldn't stand leaving for twenty minutes.

He didn't like being away from her–no it was something deeper. Jace wanted to _be with her. _He loved being around her. Whenever she was around, he felt a warmth in his chest; whenever she was around, his stomach twisted into knots; whenever she was around he felt that this death game of Galactic Warfare Online wasn't so bad; whenever she was around, he felt joy.

And so, he stepped into «Ashley's» with determination. While Jace knew that she wasn't the type of girl who went overly crazy for clothes, he found what she wore… distracting, to say the least. It was terribly revealing and–while Jace didn't mind seeing her in such a vulnerable state, he imagined that the outfit's Armor Points were very low. And while it would keep her safe from «Elemental Damage» and some «Status Effects,» it didn't really keep her safe from «Bullet Damage.»

On top of that, Sinon had started to be noticed by a lot of different people, and had mentioned her discomfort. It wasn't so bad around the Clearing Team, but regular players watched her like a hawk, and it made Jace's blood boil. He had even threatened one of the perverted men in the city of Aroboth at gunpoint to back off. The rumor had gotten him a large reprimand by Heathcliff, but after a lot of guys starting backing off of his blue-haired partner, he figured it was worth the scolding.

"Welcome to «Ashley's!»" Ashley said cheerfully in her French accent. "How can I help–oh, it's just you. I am a busy woman, so find what you want and get out of my shop, no?"

"I need something for Sinon," Jace said. "I know she models here, so I thought you could help me…"

Ashley glared at him and walked behind the counter. "Why are you buying her _clothes_? You don't look the type that would be interested in getting her something better to wear. I see you as more likely to get her a worthless trinket or a new gun. I bet you don't even know her measurements, do you?"

Jace froze. How could he have forgotten something as simple as her measurements? His plan was already turning out to be a disaster. As if to mock him, a glaring notification popped up, alerting him that he received a message from Sinon, asking about his whereabouts. He typed out a hasty reply and shook his head at Ashley. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"Of course you don't," Ashley scoffed, turning away. "Clothing is a one size fits all in GWO. I thought that even you must have known that."

"I just want to get her something that

"You like her."

Jace stumbled backwards as though punched by an invisible fist. "What?"

"Her blue eyes and hair both make her interesting to look at, and her body looks desirable in that outfit." Ashley made a bunch of curves with her hands to accentuate this point. "You don't want other players seeing her in it, so you want to get her something different."

"No, that's not–"

"No guy buys a girl clothing that's less revealing." Ashley smirked and watched as Jace began to turn red.

"It's not practical for a battle environment!" Jace stammered.

"Did she show you the saucy?" She whispered eagerly.

"The what? No, she didn't show me any 'saucy.'"

"She showed you the saucy," Ashley said with a devilish grin. "Or did you sneak a peek?"

"There was no saucy!" Jace yelled, turning and tripping over a bench. He pulled himself up to sit on it and crossed his arms. "There was no saucy."

"What are you looking for?" Ashley asked resignedly, sitting next to him. "Something subtle? Maybe some casual wear?"

"I was thinking better armor, but casual wear is okay, I suppose." Jace said. "You're the expert here. What do you suggest for her?"

"Well you certainly made it hard on yourself," Ashley grumbled, walking over to a mannequin. "I can't pick out very good colors without her modeling, so the closest thing we can get to having her try things on would be to create her character on a mannequin. I have the receipt for her eye and hair color, so we can take care of that now, but you'll have to… what is the word…" Ashley reached into the air as if trying to pull a word from the sky before finally coming to… "build the face."

"There's no way I could make a face like that," Jace muttered as he walked to the studio. "I'm not an artist." Grumble as he did, though, Jace ended up making the mannequin look almost similar to Sinon. He frowned but looked from his bad rendition of Sinon to Ashley. "You know what she looks like; is this close enough to get what you want?"

"Well, you're no Michelangelo, but this will do I suppose," Ashley said. "Now I have to see what colors she looks best in. Just a moment, sound okay?"

Jace nodded and went back to the bench. While he was talking with Ashley, he had gotten another message from Sinon. He looked over the conversation briefly.

_Sinon: Hey, I woke up and you weren't in the room. Where did you run off to?_

_Jace: I have a few errands 2 run. I'll ttyl_

_Sinon: Christmas shopping for me? It better something worthy of me; I am a goddess and all… _

Jace rolled his eyes and smiled as he began typing out his own response.

_Jace: U rly think I'd buy u an xmas gift? Thts cute_

Jace smirked and hit send, only looking up when he realized Ashley had picked out the colors. "What kind of outfit do you want? We still have a sale on jeggings."

"Do you have a low V-neck and some sweatpants?" Jace asked. The tailor nodded in response and walked back to her counter, where she opened her inventory and started scrolling through it. After a moment, she pulled out a green shirt and black sweatpants, which she deftly equipped onto the mannequin. To Jace, it now looked almost just like the girl herself. Images flitted through his head as he wondered what she liked to wear back on Earth…

"Hello? Yoohoo?" Ashley called, waving a hand in front of his eyes. "Is this okay?"

Jace jumped as he snapped out of his daydream. "Yes, it's wonderful," he said with a nod. "How much?"

"1,500 Col," Ashley said happily. "This includes her discount for modeling here."

Jace opened up a trade window with a pained expression, but paid for it nonetheless. "I hope she likes it… If she doesn't, do you do returns?"

Ashley gave Jace a derisive look, causing him to look down. "Damn it," he muttered, hoping he had picked something good enough.

)-0-(

"Jace," Sinon groaned from the bed as he walked in. "Why did you leave? I was _so bored_."

Jace smiled at her. "Sorry," he said. "I had things to do today. Besides, now I can do stuff tomorrow."

"Jace," Sinon glowered, getting up from her bed and grabbing the blonde by the collar.

"What?" Jace asked, not expecting a violent reaction from her.

"Tomorrow is Christmas," Sinon said. "I don't know what the rest of the Frontliners are doing, but if you go out grinding or start some kind of mission, I'm going to come with you, disband our Squadron in the middle of a fight and shoot you in the fucking head. We're taking the day off tomorrow."

Jace nodded immediately and Sinon released his coat. "I'm sorry," Jace said. "I didn't know you were against doing anything tomorrow."

"Dammit Jace," Sinon growled. "It's not about it being tomorrow. It's Christmas! Heathcliff is making the «KoB» take the day off, so there's no reason we shouldn't, too. It's a holiday, and I'm not spending it worrying about whether or not you're going to _die!_"

As Sinon said the last word, she threw her fist at Jace's chest. Impulsively, Jace caught her hand and held it over his heart. He looked into her eyes and realized how tired they seemed. But of what? She didn't look physically tired; was it that she was tired of grinding? Or was she perhaps tired of the entirety of what her life had become?

"We'll take a week off," Jace said quietly.

Sinon looked at him for a moment longer before her head fell against his chest. "Promise?" She asked, her head taking her hand's place on the boy's chest. Jace's hand on her back was enough of an answer for her, and she closed her eyes. For a moment in time, she simply breathed and existed.

Jace looked tenderly down at the girl in his arms, and was struck by a thought. Maybe Ashley was right. Even though her body was definitely cold, Jace was feeling terribly warm from their embrace. Could it be that he had fallen in love? Originally the blonde had only thought of it as a bond stronger than friendship, but not quite romance. What was she to him?

Unable to think about it any longer, Jace let go of her. "I was gonna wait, but I don't want to," he declared suddenly, opening his menu with the hand that had been on Sinon's back just a moment ago. "I got you something."

"You got me something?" Sinon asked, looking up at the blonde in glee who nodded in response. "What did you get?"

"Just something you can wear around that isn't quite so…" Jace paused as he tried to find an accurate adjective, but Sinon's frown made him lose his train of thought. "What's that frown about?"

"Are you uncomfortable with my outfit?" Sinon asked.

Jace thought for a moment before holding up his fingers as if to say, "Just a wee bit."

Sinon rolled her eyes. "Jace, it isn't like it's that bad," she said. "I beg to differ," Jace said, poking her in the nose and forcing a smile from the blue-haired girl. "I would be offended if my imaginary girlfriend wore that, let alone my partner."

Sinon smirked. "You have an imaginary girlfriend?"

"No," Jace groaned. "I mean, if I _had_ a girlfriend and she wore that, I'd be offended."

"What's your imaginary girlfriend like?" Sinon asked, cornering him figuratively as she got closer to making him and the one faux pas he didn't want to make–and literally as he moved closer to the wall

Jace realized he was trapped as his elbows brushed against the cold surface of the wall behind him. She wouldn't let him go unless he answered her question. "Really, I don't have an imaginary girlfriend," he said lamely, sure that his response wouldn't work. As she moved closer, pushing his back against the wall, he put a hand against her shoulder to stop her.

"Answer me, Jace," Sinon said. "Truthfully."

"Do you want your present or not?" Jace said, leaning his head back and closing one eye.

"Fine," Sinon huffed. She held out her hand happily. "Gimme the present."

Jace nodded and opened his inventory, reaching in and taking out a small box. It was wrapped in green paper and tied with a neat, red bow. It looked like the ones Jace had used long ago on less important presents: the ones that just stuck there with adhesive. But in fact, it was made of real ribbon, tied in an exquisite manner. Under the bow was a small tag that read "_To: Sinon._"

Sinon looked from the bright present to Jace again. "They added presents?" she asked, taking it in her hands. "When were these created? Are they a quest item or something?"

"I paid someone about a hundred Col to craft a box, ribbon, and paper," Jace explained. "But I wrapped it myself. Even the bow, though that took a while to get down…"

"There's no way you tied this bow," Sinon said, staring at Jace in wonder. "It's so fancy!"

"Go ahead, open it," Jace said, gesturing to it with a grin. "It doesn't have a menu, so you get to take the bow and paper off yourself!"

Sinon nodded and tugged at one end of the bow string with her left hand. It unraveled easily, much to her delight, and she moved on to the next string. One by one, the folds of the bow fell apart–Jace could feel his soul being stabbed as his masterpiece fell apart in front of his eyes–and then Sinon's hands reached the tape holding the wrapping paper together. She removed it and carefully unfolded the green paper, revealing a small wooden box about one foot by one foot and six inches deep. Her hands slowly removed the lid as her eyes peeking into the box at its contents.

"You might not notice the way some people look at you," Jace said as she pulled out the outfit curiously. "But I've seen guys look at you with eyes like vultures, and I don't like that. I doubt that you do either. So instead of wearing that outfit you use all the time, maybe you could use these."

"What do you mean you don't like how they look at me?" Sinon asked with a playful smirk at Jace. The boy was suddenly thankful that his «Ethics Code» was turned off as he felt a warmth spreading to his pelvis and his heart-rate accelerating; the «Ethics Code» was the only thing keeping him from having something massive growing in his jeans.

"It's weird watching them stare at you like that. It's weird because we're close, you know?" Jace lied with a small blush.

"I think it's because you want me all for yourself," Sinon, her smirk widening.

"Absolutely. Do you like it?" Jace asked. "Ashley designed it specifically for you."

Sinon frowned, disappointed. "So this is really Ashley's Christmas gift?" she asked.

"Not if I paid sixteen hundred Col out of pocket for it," Jace said with a small smile. "Do you like it?"

Sinon looked back at the outfit in her hands, and then gestured for Jace to turn around. While he faced the non-descript wall, he heard the sound of pearl drops, the sound effect that always played when someone operated his menu. He heard her take off her clothes and put on the much less revealing outfit she had just received. Then she walked in front of him and handed him a mirror. "Hold it up for me," she said.

Her words didn't even reach Jace's ears.

Jace had seen her in her previous combat gear, and without a doubt, she looked incredible–no, sexy–in it. But the green V-neck she wore made her seem so much more realistic in comparison. Along with the sweatpants, it made her look like an actual person, not just a player in the hell of a game that Galactic Warfare Online truly was. It was an innocent beauty, and Jace was the first to have discovered the treasure that was what she could have looked like in reality.

"Sinon…" Jace breathed as she turned away, walking to where she could see her full body in the mirror. Thankfully, his whisper went unheard.

Sinon turned around at a far distance to look in the small mirror and nodded twice. "I love it," she said brightly, with a smile that threatened to melt Jace's heart. He wasn't sure if she knew how fast his heart was racing, but she must have had her sound setting down very low if she couldn't hear it beating like a metronome. "I got you something too, Jace, do you want it?"

Jace's eyes widened slightly. He hadn't expected to get anything. "You got me something?"

"Well I've been traveling with you every day for almost two months," Sinon reasoned. "So do you want it?"

Jace nodded with a wide smile. "Yeah!"

"Well too bad, you have to wait until Christmas!" Sinon laughed. Jace began to pout, but Sinon opened her menu. "I didn't wrap mine, so you'll have to close your eyes just before I take it out. Okay?" The blonde nodded, and couldn't help but notice that Sinon seemed to be getting nervous. She hovered over an item for a brief moment and then looked at her partner, blood rising in her cheeks. "I'm ready," she said. "Close your eyes and hold your hand out to the side."

Jace did as he was told and waited, listening to the sound of her legs brushing together as she moved closer. He heard the sound of an item materializing and waited for her to place it in his hand. When she did, he turned it over in his hand. It was small and cold, made of metal.

"Open your eyes, Jace," Sinon said, stepping back. Jace did so and was rather shocked to find that the item he had been given was a watch. It was made of silver and had a dark blue face with gold numbers that popped out and caught the blonde's eye. He then looked at Sinon with a bright smile, who was looking down in embarrassment. "I know your HUD already has one, but–"

"Sinon," Jace interrupted, walking closer. The blue-haired girl looked up at her partner as he continued. "I love it. Blue is my favorite color; how did you know?"

"I didn't," Sinon admitted with a grin. "Good to know for future reference, though."

Jace put on the watch and walked closer to Sinon. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. And as the snow fell in the window behind them, the city of Miriam, the inn room, the continent Ianides, the entire planet of Aincrad… it didn't seem too far from home.

**Author's Notes**

In the poll I mentioned in the first A/N, I asked three questions. I will list them again here so you don't have to scroll, along with my reasoning and such for each. Drum roll, please.

The first question: Should I add multiple points of view for each chapter. The poll came in as a Yes. I am a fan of this option, oddly enough. It takes the stress of wondering if I'm progressing the stats appropriately off of my shoulders. I will leave the ones in the first six chapters up, and I will also put them in the epilogue of this story, but other than that, do not expect to see them again.

The second question: Should Kirito and Asuna team up after the Clearing of Babel as opposed to at the end of the story as it is in canon? The answer came in as yes. I will do this because it is an AU, and I can if I damn well want to. Also, I think it would add to the story a lot of fun twists, like in Fallen Angel Codestar's "Partners."

The third and final question: Should Jace and Sinon get together? The answer is I think that I will. One of the votes was noncommittal, the other was a no, and the other was a yes, so I decided I'd just do it in another few chapters.

I will address the one no, though. I did not split up Jace and Sinon, though it would allow for them to become distinctively separate characters and develop more arcs. I kind of thought it would be weird after they'd spent so much time together as a team. They would be used to having the back-up, used to having someone to call out to in their times of struggle, and it would be difficult for _Shino_ in particular to trust other people (due to her fear of guns caused by other people as well as her isolation in the real world), _especially_ in this kind of environment. Also, my betareader told me to trust my instincts.

Oh yeah, I've taken on a betareader.

My new betareader is rhynium. They gave a pretty in-depth review in one chapter, and I asked them about the polls specifically. They gave incredible advice to the story as a whole, and so I feel that they are a fitting candidate to beta. This may change if they cannot catch typos and other things of the like, but I have complete faith that rhynium will be a great beta. So a round of applause to them, please!

Now onto the mini questions about the story.

Kibaou got one of the coats because I felt that it would be a good little twist to the story. Couldn't have all good guys for the main plot line. And it sounds very Hunger Games-y, but I prefer to think of it as an altered version of the Supernatural Season 2 demon arc. It fits a lot more if you think of it like that.

It felt wrong to bring Ashley, who is such a fun character to write, back into the story without a reference to the saucy. I didn't plan it or anything, but I sure as hell couldn't leave it out. So yes, the saucy makes an appearance.

On the note of Ashley, you may have noticed that Ashley doesn't really like Jace. This is because she knows Sinon, and thinks that Jace is just hanging around with her because of the outfit–she didn't know they'd been traveling together for a while, and she's protective of her models. When she realizes that Jace actually likes Sinon, she becomes nicer to the boy.

There was a lot of fluff leading up to the end of the chapter. I have never written anything really fluffy, so (after some heavy revising and editing with rhynium) I ended up writing it and even rewriting it some of the way. In the version most of you have read,

This concludes the Author's Notes. I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. If you did–or if you didn't–leave me a review or a PM! All follows and Favorites are appreciated. Signing off…

Artie Ross


	8. The Cyclonic Crypt

Disclaimer: I appreciate and honor the fact that you are taking the time to read my story. I thank you for any reviews, follows, and favorites. I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own any of its characters. Sword Art Online belongs to Reki Kawahara, ASCII Media Works, and the SAO Project. Please support the official release.

**Character Ages**

Kirito- 16 (October 7th, 2006)

Asuna- 17 (September 30th, 2005)

Sinon- 16 (January 17th, 2007)

Jace- 17 (February 13th, 2006)

* * *

Chapter 8: The Cyclonic Crypt

Tuesday, January 2nd 2023. Continent: Ianides. City limits of Stormcall. User Jace

Snow was the worst.

The snow in Aincrad was pointless. If it was picked up, it burst apart in the animation that signified durability depletion and vanished. It acted like regular snow otherwise, slushing around Sinon's feet as soon as she stepped in it and sneaking into her socks before melting, leaving her with a chilly feeling below. But soon, Jace and Sinon would be out of the cold snow.

"Dammit," Sinon growled as she shot repeatedly at the lock on the metal grate with her pistol, trying to get it to open up. Her attempts were worthless, the bullets just bringing up purple hexagons proclaiming the grate's status as an «Immortal Object»– meaning its durability could not be depleted.

"You need a higher «Picking» skill to open it," Jace explained, opening his menu and pulling out a strange device Sinon had never seen before. "Mine is of… fair level, so I'll open it."

"What is that?" Sinon asked her partner.

"This is a «Hacker». It's used for opening locked doors and chests," the blonde explained. He tapped the screen twice to activate the device and stuck the metal picks into the grates lock. Then, with rapid taps and strokes, he began typing out strings of code. After a few seconds, the screen turned completely green and there was a soft click. "It's unlocked now."

"Why didn't you just use that in the first place?" Sinon grumbled.

"You were intent on shooting it open," Jace pointed out. "I tried to help at first but you were sure you could do it." He then paused for a minute before adding with a smirk, "It was also really funny to watch."

"Just because we're a team doesn't mean the next bullet won't go in your calf," Sinon growled at him. The blonde instantly shut his mouth and they went in together.

"Ugh, I hate sewers," Jace complained. "Couldn't «Ghillie of Babel» have been in a forest or on a mountain?"

"What's wrong with sewers?" Sinon asked, stepping in a pile of rat dung without a second thought. "Are they too untidy for the great Jace?"

Jace blushed and looked away as she stared at him. "It's not about the mess," he explained to the wall. "It's about the lack of space. I can't stand the underground."

"That's not true at all," Sinon said, spinning her partner around to face her directly. "You don't mind being in tight spaces because you were fine in the alleys during the Clearing of Miriam. And you didn't mind being in the «Lunar Mine» for extra time. You insisted that we mine that «Iridium Ore» for Lisbeth; you were even singing while we were mining. It's that you can't stand being in a sewer, you _girl_."

Jace looked at her with a sneer. When he looked forward again, the two realized that they had reached a curve in the tunnel. At the end of that turn, the tunnel ended, opening up into a massive underground cavern. The walls curved together at the top and there were rows and rows of filthy sewer canals, sidewalks sporting a dull gray, cement color. A notification popped up in Jace's vision, marking the area as the «Cyclonic Crypt.» This was the only place they could possibly find a monster in Stormcall, as the rest of the city was a safe zone.

Sinon turned to Jace with a sad smile. "Alright, Jace," she said. "Go back up above ground now."

Jace looked at her with confusion. "Why?"

"You don't want to be here," she said honestly. "And anyway, I have to complete this mission alone. It's telling me to disband my party."

Jace frowned. "No way," he said, shaking his head. "Kayaba didn't make «Ghillie of Babel» a solo mission because it was nearly impossible to do solo. I had to use an SMG just to get to this Boss alone and then I had to hide on a perch and get help because I ran out of ammo for my weapons."

"Would you mind trading me some ammo for the rest of my equipment for now, then?" Sinon asked. "I should only need Sniper ammunition, and I can take everything back once I get back from this dungeon."

Jace's frown deepened. "I don't want to leave you," he said. "Tell me it's some kind of a joke; I can hardly leave you to do your job during the Clearings, and now you're going to be facing a «Monster Class Boss.»"

"Well, give me all the information you know," Sinon said.

Jace sighed and leaned against the edge of the wall as he began trading off his items to Sinon. "The «Beast of Stormcall» is the common name for «Torclone, Beast of Winds.» He lies in the heart of the Crypt, sleeping until people enter the area called the Heart Chamber. When they arrive, he awakens after ten seconds. Ten seconds is just enough time to get from the ground to the ledge in the northeast corner. If you snipe from there, his ranged attacks can't hit you, and he can't reach high enough for a physical attack. And be careful when you go in; the tunnel closes."

"Thank you, Jace," Sinon said, taking his hand in hers for a brief moment. Oh god, how she wanted to keep him with her. But as she removed her hand from his grasp and opened her menu to disband the Squadron that she had made with him, she knew that she had to be strong and fight the pang of fear in her stomach. She would be okay without the blonde for one fight, so long as she had enough ammo. Her rifle was of high enough quality to take out many monsters in one hit; she had gotten it upgraded after her fight with the «Slenderman» in the «Black Forest.»

"Sinon," Jace whispered. "Just promise you'll come back."

Sinon nodded and turned away from her partner. She leapt down from the tunnel and vanished from Jace's sight. Then, with a loud, metallic squeal, the entrance to the crypt shuddered shut.

Jace frowned as he stared at the closed door. There was nothing he could do but head back. He slowly made his way out of the sewer, finally stepping into the snow with a sigh. Flurries brushed across his face as he looked up.

"It's sure coming down hard today," Jace said to himself thoughtfully. It had snowed often since his Christmas with Sinon, but the blonde hadn't seen it snow this hard in months. In fact, he hadn't seen the snow falling so hard since he had been in the «Ethereal Highlands» with Sinon, right before she had defeated the «Slenderman» and taken on the mission to become the «Ghillie of Babel» months ago.

It was funny, he thought as he closed his eyes; he had completely forgotten about his brief time in the same area back in the beta during August. It was snowing almost as hard then as it was now with Sinon, but somehow he failed to recall the events that transpired on that same road. Was it because so much time had passed since the beta? Or had it been more? Had it been that he wanted to forget?

Closing his eyes, Jace knew the truth as he thought back.

)-0-(

Saturday, August 27th, 2022. Continent: Ianides. Snow Valley. User Jace

Weather was certainly a strange thing on Aincrad.

The winter seasons were the only ones that had accurate weather–it could snow at virtually any time in reality, so during the preset days of winter, the planet would get snow that was randomly generated–unless it was too warm, in which it would begin to rain. The AI system that ran the planet–called Cardinal–would also generate the duration of the precipitation to match whatever was happening in reality. In effect, winter would have realistic snowfalls all over the planet.

In every other season, though, weather was predetermined by miniature biomes. For example, the «Ethereal Highlands» located in the center of Ianides had an area around the mountains shaped almost like a figure-eight, called the «Arctic Belt.» There, it snowed every single day–even on a day like today, where the weather was tropically warm just a few kilometers south of the area's border.

As «Diamite» was by far the rarest ore discovered at the time–which meant nearly nothing, as the Clearers had only reached the third Major City on «Ianides»–it was fitting that it was discovered in the heart of the map in an area only possible to reach by climbing a mountain.

"From this point on, the snow gets worse!" Jace shouted to Jackal over the sound of a howling blizzard. "If we stay out here in the cold much longer, we'll get frozen like popsicles unless we bundle up, but we still need to find a cave soon! The Highlands are riddled with them!"

"I can't hear you!" Jackal yelled from two meters away as he fought the wind to take a step forward.

"_We need shelter_!" Jace screamed. "There should be a cave about two hundred meters from here!"

"_Oh_! I understand now!" the redhead shouted back.

The two players rushed forward, activating their «Sprint» skills to surge ahead against the winds. They made it, eventually, but the cave wasn't much warmer than the outside was. Jace took his hands and scooped out a medium sized ditch of snow near the mouth of the cave. "Cold air sinks," Jace panted after he was done. "The ditch will catch a lot of cold air, despite its size–or lack thereof, I suppose."

"How about we make a fire? Just until we finish getting warm," Jackal suggested.

Jace thought for a moment. He hadn't heard of any monsters in the caves of the «Ethereal Highlands» during the beta, but he didn't want to risk exposing himself so easily. "I don't know, Jackal," Jace said quietly. "There could be creatures in here."

Jackal looked deeper into the cave, half surprised to find that it continued deeper inside. "It goes on? I didn't know there was a cavern system in the «Arctic Belt.»" The redhead punched Jace's shoulder lightly. "What say we do a little spelunking, eh?"

The blonde frowned as he thought. There wasn't much real risk involved either way–they find a monster, lose, die, and respawn. "I guess a little bit of exploring couldn't really hurt," he said cautiously. "We might find a way up without having to go outside."

Jackal smiled and walked deeper into the cave. "Alright, spookies! Let's go!"

Jace glanced back at the mouth of the cave behind him, shivering as he turned away. And for the first time that day, it hadn't been because of the cold. With that, he began walking up the slight slope of the tunnel that led up to the top of the mountain, watching the light fading away with each step he took.

The trip through the cave was rather creepy, as Jace hadn't levelled up his «Night Vision» skill to quite the level that Jackal had. Jackal, of course was a weaponsmith, and his time in the mines to gather materials for orders had naturally levelled up the skill. But the blonde still felt like his temporary partner was showing off, waltzing over nooks, crags, and crannies as if they weren't there at all.

The trip up was all but noteworthy. To Jace's surprise, there were no mobs that attacked the group as they ascended to the top levels of the cliff. That stunned the blonde in and of itself; on his trip through these same caves, he nearly had to dodge mobs. Maybe someone had taken the same path an hour prior, and Jace and Jackal were just lucky. Jace, however, did not believe in luck.

The two reached the top of the mountain unscathed. The view was as incredible as it was on his last journey; he could see for kilometers and kilometers into the distance. He was even able to spot the town of Asfos just to the mountain's southern side. The cottony white clouds stretched lazily across the azure skies, as if crawling to their destination without any regard to speed. The snow, when he focused on it, resolved into tiny crystalline flakes, similar to the ones he used to cut out from sheets of paper as a child.

Jace thought about how much technology had advanced in his lifetime. When he was about four years old, the Nintendo 3DS had just come out. Now he was fully immersed in a virtual world. And though fine details only came out when his eyes focused on a certain area to keep the graphics engine from breaking down, the world seemed unbelievably real to his eyes.

And it wasn't just his eyes that were tricked into thinking that this world was real, it was all of his senses: the cold snow against his skin, the smell of the winter breeze, the sound of the howling wind and crunching snow, the taste of «Slimy Stagwiches» left in his mouth from their breakfast that morning. The Nervegear sent the exact signals to his brain to make him believe that he was experiencing every sensual feeling of this pseudo-environment, while he was truly doing nothing but laying on his bed, eyes closed and breathing as though he was in a coma.

Jace shook his head before he started thinking about the philosophical topic of consciousness and looked across the peak at Jackal. The redhead was staring down the side of the mountain, as if he were looking for something. A mob perhaps? Or maybe it was another player? At any rate, before he could guess what the boy was looking at, he shifted his gaze back to Jace.

"We have to hurry," Jackal said. "It'll be dark before long, and if the temperature drops much lower, we'll get a «Frost Effect» that will kill us slowly."

Jace frowned. The look in Jackal's eyes was one of dead seriousness, the likes of which the blonde had never seen from him before. A shiver ran down his spine, but he tried to ignore the fear that was forming a stone in his stomach. "Alright," he said, his frown deepening. "Let's get going."

)-0-(

Tuesday, January 2nd, 2023. Continent: Ianides. Kingsreach. User Asuna

Asuna was finally happy.

Asuna's life until the release of GWO had been just about a living hell. She fought with her mother constantly–most often about whether or not she would allow herself to be put in an arranged marriage. The only person she found comfort from was her brother–who was in a way responsible for trapping him here.

Her brother, Kouichirou, had gotten a copy of Galactic Warfare Online–their father had been a part of the company responsible for its release, so he managed to get his son one of the twenty-five thousand copies–and raved about it endlessly. Asuna began to grow curious, so when her brother was called overseas for a business trip on the release date of GWO, he gave her permission to try the game.

It was a world that she'd never imagined before. She could feel the sun on her skin; she could taste the food that she ate; she could be anyone she wanted to be–not just "that rich Yuuki girl." She was finally free, free of her responsibilities from being the daughter of a rich family. Aincrad was a place full of possibilities where anything could happen. It wasn't long before she actually wished that she could _live_ within this world.

And then, all too soon, she was.

When Kayaba had made the announcement that changed everything, Asuna broke. Any mistake while she was training could mean her imminent death, and the fear that she would never return to Earth consumed her. She crumpled into pieces and holed herself up in an inn room, crying there in a ball on the bed for weeks. This world, though just a game, that had been so bright and promising, now would be her demise.

But Asuna could only stand to grovel over her misfortune in that one week. She mustered up her courage and went out to level as hard as she could until she was accepted into the Clearers. She fought day and night, on a strict schedule. She would never be the same if she stayed in a hotel room for the entirety of the game. In her mind, the only way that she would stay herself was by fighting the odds and defying Kayaba's plans. She didn't even care if she died–if she went down, she was going to go down swinging.

When she met Kirito in Nefaria though, she began to see more clearly how false her outlook on life within the game was. It was as if something clicked within her, and everything began to make sense. She couldn't simply live without a care as to what her life meant. Kirito was fighting for his life and the lives of all the other players. If she didn't care about her own life, how could she care about theirs?

They had an incredible working relationship; in their first fight together they had been so in sync, she thought that she might have been linked by mind to the infamous Beater. She even felt oddly comfortable with him, though she hadn't ever really trusted a boy other than her brother before. She chalked it up to the way he looked at life, though.

Then, when they met again in Babel, she had asked Kirito to join him in a Squadron. Kirito seemed as though he didn't want to, but eventually the Black Swordsman accepted her request. It had been three weeks since then, and the effects of training with a better player were already beginning to show on Asuna. She was growing by the level so fast that she wondered if there was a limit.

Today, they were taking their weekly break from gaining experience and levels. They had come to Kingsreach to get new supplies; they were running out of «Energy Cores» for their «Mobile Teleporters» and–of course–they needed ammo. So they went to Kingsreach, one of the larger Major Cities.

"Kirito, how hard is it to use a «Plasmid Sword»-type weapon?" Asuna asked her companion.

"Well, it's fairly easy," Kirito answered absentmindedly. "You just have to have good «Dexterity» stats. The rest is keeping the blade in front of the «Prediction Line» and not getting yourself hurt."

"How much do they cost?" Asuna continued.

"Well, they vary," Kirito said, only now truly listening to her; she had asked many questions about his sword before, but usually they just seemed like empty conversation. "Mine would probably be worth 18,000 Col, give or take, without upgrades, so with all the upgrades, it would probably be worth about 35,000 to 40,000 Col. Why do you ask?"

"I'm thinking that I want to use mine," Asuna said, glancing at a nearby NPC weapon store as she shrugged her Light Rifle into a more comfortable position. "They're much lighter than these and we could train together more easily."

"I don't know, Asuna," Kirito said slowly. "It's really dangerous to use «Plasmid Swords» without proper training. I died a _lot_ back in the beta before I finally got a hang of it."

Asuna huffed at him with a glare. "I'm not a little girl," she said grouchily. "I can take care of myself. I just want to use a «Plasmid Sword» to do that now. That way, we'll be able to train easier, too."

"We'll have to only hunt near Base Camp and Babel for a while," Kirito explained. "It would lower our levelling in the short term, as well as the potential long term. If you really want one, we could look for one, but even then, you would need to find which weapon suits you the most; you can't just pick up a one handed sword and swing it around, you have to feel comfortable with it. You might prefer to use a two-handed sword, or an axe as opposed to your rapier."

"Well who could we see to find out?" Asuna asked in frustration, slightly put out as she crossed her arms over her chest. "It's not like there are any experts on how to use swords! Who the hell even uses swords in here anyway?" Then, noticing the look of half offense on Kirito's face, she blushed and waved her hand as if to dispel his thought. "Not like that, I mean."

"Well, the «School of Swordsmen» are pretty good at teaching swordsmanship," Kirito said, looking as though his pride still hurt a bit. He opened his menu and began typing out a message as he carried on speaking. "I could ask one of them for me; a few of them owe me a favor for helping them in the beta test."

"Would we be able to get it done soon?" Asuna asked curiously. She wasn't very educated when it came to the game, but she knew that the «School of Swordsmen» was an Army that was very busy–they had to spend a lot of time levelling and studying the mythology and culture of the planet. They were almost clones of the Jedis from the movie, Star Wars.

"There's usually at least one of the Swordsmen in the big cities," the raven-haired boy reasoned as he sent his message and closed his menu. "If we can't find one here, then it wouldn't be too much of a hassle to just head to the Spatial Rift and teleport over to their base in Politik."

"Let's go then," Asuna said.

Asuna walked with Kirito further into the city, marveling at the many sights and scenes that unfolded in front of them. Just like in most other large cities, people were buying things from street vendors. There were lovers sitting together and holding hands. Shady characters walked around, looking as though they were sizing up targets. All in all though, it was a peaceful place, and Asuna was thoroughly enjoying it–though Kirito had told her that there was not a single person in the town that could help her. And as they reached the center, they reached the «Spatial Rift.» Soon they reached the center of the city, where a dark violet portal swirled ominously

The «Spatial Rift» was a fast travel system that teleported players from one area to another. Technically, this was already possible through the use of «Mobile Teleporters,» but the personal machines only worked with the help of items called «Battery Packs.» The packs charged the small watch-like teleportation devices, but they could only be purchased at very high costs. For this reason, the «Spatial Rift» was worshipped by fellow players as a gift from the gods–or as some people had begun saying, a gift from the Oblivia–due to the lack of expenses it required.

As Asuna looked at the «Spatial Rift,» she realized she had certainly chosen the right word: ominous. Though it appeared to be nothing more than a platform, the inner area of it was a shade of dark–nearly black–purple. There were parts that were lighter and darker, and they all swirled around each other in a hauntingly beautiful, yet eerily terrifying waltz.

Asuna crept a bit closer to her companion. "It looks…"

"Creepy?" Kirito finished. "I agree, but once you use it a couple times, you start to appreciate it more." Then Kirito reached a hand over and took hers in his own before stepping forward. Asuna followed closely as he spoke the code that would send him to the bustling city of Politik.

Within an instant, Asuna lost all feelings of… well, feeling. It was almost as though her soul was floating away from her body, drifting away in time and space. Her body was gone and she was soaring across space to be dropped off at her destination. At the last possible second, she regained feeling in her legs and managed to catch herself without stumbling too much. Kirito, however, landed as if he had never moved. The journey through the «Spatial Rift» did not affect him whatsoever. Without a word, he began to trek forward, to the eastern exit of the city. Asuna barely had any time to recover to catch up to him.

There was something very different about the city of Politik than the other cities. Similar to Glasswater's western theme, their current location was themed. The city was very medieval-looking, with cobblestone streets and braziers mounted on wooden stands every few yards, the coals red and waiting to be reignited as the sun went down.

Soon they arrived at their destination. About twenty-five or so meters into the city was a small building that looked like a house. Asuna guessed by the sign out front that it was the base of the «School of Swordsmen,» as the sign had two swords crossed in front of a book etched into the wood.

Asuna felt uneasy. This was a massive risk, changing her entire style on a mere whim. She thought that the rewards would be phenomenal if she could pull off the adjustment, though. With a deep breath, she grasped the plain doorknob. She could do it. It wasn't like they would throw her into a dungeon with different types of swords. She opened the door slowly and peeked inside, Kirito at her back.

The walls were made of dark wood with sconces that held torches every few feet that dimly lit the room just to the point where it was easy to see. The floor was made of black stones cemented together with some sort of lavender material. They were unnaturally flat, but they had just enough of a curve to seem almost real–though Asuna hated to use that word in regards to Aincrad, as nothing was truly real in this world. In the corner, a man stood behind a black desk guarding a curtained door.

The man was dressed in a black, hoodless cloak. He had a thin smile on his lips, but his eyes were filled with a dark fire that frightened Asuna. He had silvery gray hair that looked almost white and a beard to match, but he had almost no wrinkles–only a single laugh-line was engraved on his right cheek. He was blocking the only entrance deeper into the building with his body as he stared intensely at Kirito, as if the boy had come in and knocked over several tables for the fun of it.

"What is your purpose of coming here, Black Swordsman?" the man asked, his eyes surely burning holes through Kirito's black long-coat. The boy with messy raven hair seemed nonchalant as he answered with a confident smile to the old man.

"Is that any way to treat your best student, Katsuo?" Kirito asked with a slight bow. "I've come to redeem a favor I've been owed. My friend, Asuna, is currently searching for the Plasmid Weapon she is most suited for. My request is that you guide her through the process and teach her which weapon will be best for her needs–as well as helping her train three times a week with the new weapon."

Katsuo turned to look at Asuna. "This boy says you wish to be instructed in the art of the «Plasmid Sword.» It is not an easy road to follow, nor is it particularly rewarding. You will most likely not be recognized as a skillful player, but as reckless instead. This training will take you months to get to your current skill level in whatever weapon you have at the moment, and the selection process itself will take at least a week. If you truly wish to be a wielder of the «Plasmid Sword,» this is what awaits you. Do you accept the challenge?"

Asuna looked from Katsuo to Kirito. They both appeared to be some of the strongest players she had met, and she had only known Katsuo for two minutes. The old man was sizing her up coldly even now as she hesitated for the slightest fraction of a second. This frustrated Asuna, who frowned and crossed her arms in a display of confidence.

"I, Asuna, accept the challenge of the «School of Swordsmen.»"

Katsuo nodded and then stepped to the side as he pulled up the curtain, revealing a door. Asuna entered slowly and was immediately taken aback by how large the area was. It was a massive dojo with floors made of dark wood, where many people clad in black cloaks were practicing slashing and stabbing. Some were even sparring with each other, attacking with confidence and barely flinching as the plasma blades seared into their skins. The old man then stepped behind her and put a hand against the small of her back, causing the girl with chestnut hair to stumble into the dojo.

"Enter, Asuna, and be trained in the most noble of arts: the art of swordplay!"

)-0-(

Tuesday, January 2nd 2023. Continent: Ianides. Cyclonic Crypt. User Sinon

Sinon was definitely lost.

Originally, she had decided to only follow the right wall. It would ensure that she reach the heart of the maze. But it was a process that took a lot of time, and about fifteen minutes in, she abandoned it and tried to begin heading back the way she came.

To no one's surprise, she reached an unfamiliar crossroad. She didn't recognize it because there had been so many intersections, so Sinon decided to stop and check her Map Data. The files were not working–she was in an area that forbade the use of Map Data. But instead of keeping her cool and continuing on the same side of the wall–which was now left–she headed to the right, and soon found herself lost, turning about this way and that in hopes of finding the true path.

Soon, her hopes disappeared as she realized that she was truly lost and unable to use her Mobile Teleporter. The batteries were dead, and she was unable to switch them out due to a «Location Based Restriction.» Her only hope was to find the beast in the center, defeat it, and then pray that the labyrinth would crumble away with its death–after all, that was what was said to have happened in the «Gardenial Glade» near the town of Donquix.

She continued walking for what felt like hours until she arrived at a small room-like area with a chest in the center. It appeared to be locked, in much the same way as the grate that had almost blocked her entry into the crypt. Luckily, Jace had given the girl his «Hacker» just in case she found something like this. She pulled it out and began to try and fiddle with the lock. After several minutes of slips and curses, she successfully unlocked the chest and sat with bated breath. What was in it? Was it some kind of monetary treasure? Was it a rare item? Or was it a trap that would surround her with mobs or shoot darts at her? Sinon wasn't sure, but she was excited. Still holding onto her breath, she opened the lid cautiously.

Inside was a large spool of golden thread that was huge, as though it had enough length to go on for hundreds of meters. Sinon found herself recalling the Greek myth of Ariadne and Theseus and pondered for a brief moment on just how similar the Xylotian Mythology and Greco-Roman Mythology were. As Sinon picked up the spool, she wondered if Kayaba had been intrigued by Greek culture when he was young and had created a world modeled after their legendary tales.

As she looked at the thread in her hands, it began unraveling, shooting off in a direction Sinon hadn't traveled. Logically, it should be pointing her in the right direction–unless it was an item made to intentionally confuse the players. But as the room had only two entrances, it seemed unlikely to the sniper that the item was made to get players even more lost. So, taking the risk, she followed the string.

Left left right left right straight right left. Then, straight right straight right left straight left right left straight left. Right left right straight right left straight left straight right.

The whole way, she didn't come across a single mob, but at the same time, she felt like she was being watched. Once or twice, she even turned around and could have sworn she saw a shadow darting into one of the crossroads she had passed, or even a glowing pair of red eyes peeking around a corner. Of course, her «Perception» skill told her there was nothing close to her. The only living thing in the crypt that she knew of was waiting for her now about two hundred and sixty feet into the cave. And from what she could guess, it would be an insane match to face.

Soon, Sinon reached the entrance of a massive central chamber, taking in a full view of an enormous sleeping beast. She very quickly felt like she was facing a certain philistine giant who went by the name of Goliath.

«Torclone, the Beast of Winds» was the biggest mob she'd ever seen. It looked like a giant, wingless dragon with milky white skin and legs the size of redwood tree trunks. Its spine had yellow spikes sticking out from it like thorns on a rose that traveled from its horned head to its long, spiky, club-like tail. As it opened its mouth in a lethargic yawn, the sniper noticed that each of its teeth were as long as her legs–except for its canines, which were as tall as she was–and how they tapered off into points sharper than a pencil tip. It must have weighed at least as much as a two tractor trailers–maybe three, Sinon thought as she noticed all of the skeletons around it and wondered how much it ate–and it exerted an unmistakable aura of death. Much to her distress, she couldn't even tell how powerful it was compared to her; the monster she was facing would not show any sign of its stats until she aggroed it, which wasn't something she was prepared to do just yet. Jace hadn't been kidding when he said this thing would be impossible to kill solo.

And so she began to plot her attack.

Sinon was many things, including a coward. But she was by no means a quitter. She had started this mission, and the only way she was going to get out was by either killing this massive beast or by letting it kill her. And, though she wanted to believe that she would wake up in some hospital room if her HP reached zero, she knew that it was far too long into the game for Kayaba's Speech back on that November day to be a lie, and she didn't want to die. So instead, she vowed that she would bury every last bullet she had into this thing, if need be.

Dragons were a moderately popular part of Xylotian Mythology. They were known as the gatekeepers to the underworld and were infamous for their lethality. It was rare for the Xylotes to try to kill one, but when they did, it was out of necessity–mostly because attempting to kill a dragon was a waste of time. Their scales were thirteen times harder than diamonds, and–according to legend–they were used as material for the armor of the Oblivia. The only chance to kill one was somehow shooting one in the eye or by attacking spots where the scales had worn away to reveal exposed flesh. After a quick scan of the beast, Sinon found one spot just like that on «Torclone;» right over the dragon's heart was a patch of vulnerable skin. She would have to place every bullet in there that she could shoot, or else she'd–

_Parcel received from Jace._

Sinon opened her menu curiously and opened the gift. In the menu the parcel brought up, she saw three items which made her smile. Putting the items in her inventory, she vowed to thank the blonde later for his gifts. She knew that they would help immensely.

Sinon took a deep breath and began dashing forward into the room. The ledge Jace had told her about wasn't very far away, she knew, but since she only had ten seconds before the beast woke up, she might as well have had no time at all. By the time the blue-haired girl climbed over the ledge, she felt tongues of flame in the air where she had been just a moment ago.

The sniper took out the three items and waited until she could no longer feel the heat from the flames before standing up and facing the monster. It was even more terrifying awake than it was asleep, Sinon thought as she threw the items at the beast before its mouth unhinged like a cobra.

Sinon was thankful that she dove back immediately after.

As soon as she hit the ground, purple plasma streamed towards her perch, searing the very air above her. The edge of the ledge was as black as tar from the purple inferno. Knowing that she had to use the items now, she pulled out a rectangular device from her inventory and pressed the button on its GUI.

An ungodly screech rang through Sinon's ears as the «Nuclear Detonators» went off. Their blast radius was only fifty feet, so Sinon was safe, but the dragon's HP immediately started dropping, eventually taking off a full two bars. But the battle was far from over. Just because a dragon was susceptible to nuclear energy didn't mean that it would be damaged nearly as easily by bullets.

The odds never mattered to her, though, Sinon thought as she raised her gun and aimed at the spot of exposed flesh on the dragon and watched her Aiming Circle shrink. She didn't care how long it would take; she was still going to beat it. She was going to grow stronger. There was no obstacle that she would allow to stand in her path. Even if it was a person, she would take care of it by any means necessary… even if it meant that she would have to relive that incident…

Her Aiming Circle pulsed.

At first it just seemed like it was getting stuck. Then Sinon realized with a start that it was growing. Her shock only made the circle grow more until her whole field of vision was green. That face was coming back into existence in the front of her brain; that man in the post office. His black pistol of death gleamed with a sinister light in her mind's eye. His lifeless eyes, the blood spurting from his forehead, the very image that had traumatized her all these years was coming back to her… and it had all been her fault…

Shino threw herself down and began dry heaving–vomit had not been implemented in Galactic Warfare Online–even as eerie plasma flared over her head. Her blue eyes dilated and her breathing came in ragged, violent bursts. She groaned in terror. It had only been self-defense; why was he still haunting her!

But in the midst of her darkest hour, within her consciousness, within her soul, she felt a hand touch her arm softly. It was the hand of her partner, Jace. He was strong. And though she would bet money that he had never killed anyone, he was possibly the strongest person she knew. She had to overcome her weakness to become like that. She had to!

With a growl, Sinon stood from where the weak girl, Shino Asada, had been lying down. Fury in her eyes, she whipped her gun up and aimed down the sight, the scope homing directly into the center of the exposed fleshy spot. She flipped her gun, activating a «Weapon Skill» and fired a seven hit combo known as «Wrath of the Viper.»

The first bullet lodged itself deep within «Torclone's» chest, the next two spiraling around the first in a double helix. Then the next four made a plus sign out of the first bullet. They all reached the same depth before burying themselves deeper all the way into the heart of the beast. It drove the beast's second HP bar down by about four percent.

Sinon huffed a strand of hair from her face, now fully back in control of her body, though the beast showed no signs of calming down. This was going to be a long battle, she thought as she ducked under yet another stream of purple death. It would be a long battle indeed.

–o–

It took her several hours and all but four bullets to fell the beast, but eventually she did manage to kill it. It had burst apart into tiny fragments of blue polygons with a shattering sound as any other mob would, but the rewards she got from it were incredible. She had acquired 750 Col–a substantial amount for a single mob, even a boss–and 3000 experience points. That wasn't even counting the items.

As she went to look at her loot, she saw two items that she'd never seen before. The first was an equippable armor item called the «Ghillie Gear»–a Ghillie suit. When she took it out, she saw that it matched the sewer walls, with small amounts of plumage that might have been moss dotting the surface.

Sinon decided it would replace her Commando outfit. While she did kind of like her old suit, she hated being ogled by the other players in the frontlines like she was an ultra-rare weapon on display. She opened its menu, almost shocked at the description that lay inside.

"_The «Ghillie Gear» is a piece of equipment that Mangyrst made for his Champion in the First Tournament, before Beasts were used. It maximizes the champion's Accuracy and camouflages the bearer by taking the data of the surrounding biome and reflecting the results on the surface. Use?"_

Sinon was surprised to find that the white dragon had been one of the Champions. Weren't the Champions supposed to be humanoid Xylotes? And weren't the items they dropped supposed to be long-coats? She mentally resolved to ask Argo about her find later, though she didn't know if she was supposed to keep it a secret like Jace had. On second thought, maybe she should go to Jace first…

The next item was called the «Urn of Olympus», and it was made of pure gold. Embossed and engraved in the gold–almost like a story–were many hieroglyphic-like drawings. Sinon could only imagine that they were telling the tale of the last «Ghillie of Babel,» though it seemed odd that there could have been one in the game's past.

She didn't bother to look at the item's description; she could find information about it if she truly wanted to later. But as it was, it was simply a means to an end. She couldn't sell or drop it; it was a quest item, and the system didn't allow the loss of quest items. It was said that even after death, the items stayed in the player's inventory, though they could not be removed.

No, she thought as she closed the mob's dead GUI. Her primary concern right now was escaping the crypt. She glanced back to where she entered the chamber and saw the string that led her there. All she had to do was follow it back to the last room and use it to climb the wall and find her bearings. Her escape would be fun indeed.

)-0-(

Tuesday, January 2nd 2023. Continent: Ianides. Emmix. User Spiegel

The city of Emmix was one of the lesser known towns on the massive continent of Ianides. Part of this was due to the road system that spanned across the rounded square-like land mass. The main road, affectionately dubbed as the Royal Road by the players, went from the center of the southwest up to the «Ethereal Highlands» and then around to the west of them, tracing about fifty kilometers from the edge of the continent in a clockwise motion. Then it stopped at about two o'clock and made a U opening towards the west, before heading in a straight line to the southeast. All of the major cities were along this road, so the highest leveled players stayed on it for the most part–though it was the only route in the beginning of the game anyways.

Halfway between Nefaria and Asfos, though, a smaller road appeared, forking off the side of the Royal Road. It led to many Forts as it webbed all over the southwestern half of the continent. One of the southeastern cities, along the south beach, was Emmix.

When mid-level players found the small cities, Heathcliff relinquished a small force of about twenty Clearers to help and make sure the cities were safe to invade–though many found the action unnecessary, as some of the towns were small enough to be cleared by medium sized Armies or even large Squadrons. The path to these cities was much easier to clear than the Royal Road, and one observant player even found that Xylote level was determined by distance along roads from Base Camp. The only differences were on the south road to the last city and the road eastward from Soaroff in the middle-east, which were guarded by Xylotes at higher levels than their distance from the front line would suggest, effectively stopping the mid-level players from progressing past the frontline.

Emmix was arguably the most beautiful of any of these towns, with its close proximity to the beach's shoreline, but the fact that it was so small made most players not want to visit it. After all, there were few players that would want to come to a town like Emmix that would be filled more with tourists than space. Ironically, it was exactly that philosophy that kept it from becoming such a tourist spot.

And so for Spiegel, it was a wonderful vacation spot.

He brushed his brown hair back with his hand, his yellow jacket flapping behind him in the gentle breeze. Unfortunately, he was wearing dark jeans, and he was getting hot. He looked around for players and didn't see any, so he slipped into the doorway of a small shop nearby. Then he stripped to his yellow boxers and into his swimsuit–a pair of yellow trunks with black stripes down his outer thighs.

Spiegel was a hard worker, sure. But due to recent run-ins with the «Aincrad Liberation Force»–the Army he had joined with his friend Kibaou back in the first weeks of GWO–he found himself along with Kibaou on mandatory vacations for "the safety of the other players."

Spiegel thought it was unfair that he was being sent on temporary leave; he merely co-commanded with Kibaou on the mission to send forty newbies on a mission to the «Hollow Grove» to scout for a boss. They hadn't found one, just a forest maze that in fact turned out to be a very high-level dungeon. They had made it out alive of course, but a few of the recruits were left behind. The only reason they even knew they had died was the Monument of Fallen Soldiers in the «Black Iron Palace» marking off their names.

Long story short, Thinker–the Commander of the Army–had sent them to separate towns to "split up the dream team" and "give everyone some breathing room."

"Whatever," Spiegel grunted as he opened his menu and grabbed a towel before lying down on it, idly wondering about his love, Shino Asada. He had suggested that she get a copy of the game when it came out and found her traveling with that freak, Jace. He didn't know how she could possibly go with someone as rude as him, but they had already been making a scene when he first found them. He knew it would be a bad idea to bring up the topic of joining them, _especially_ if she said no–although he couldn't imagine her doing so; they were best friends in the real world. There was no way a stranger like Jace could possibly hope to come between them.

Spiegel looked up with a start as he realized he had just received a message. He opened his menu and navigated to his private messages. There was one new message from Kibaou, who was still enraged that Thinker had sent him off and relieved him from his duties for weeks.

_Kibaou: Hes a f*cking idiot. I dont no who he thinks he is, but im the leader of the expedition force! I take care of all of the operations in the clearings and I take care of all the leveling partys. _

Spiegel sighed and began to type his response. He liked Kibaou a lot–the man had helped him greatly by taking him under his wing. Kibaou had apparently been through combat training in the Japanese armed forces, but after a year he had been thrown out for throwing fits very similar to this one. When he wasn't mad though, he was quite enjoyable to be around.

_Spiegel: Well, he's technically the Commander, even if he's just a figurehead. Plus that news is sure to have gotten out with that one noob who switched to the Red Dragons of War. He had to do something, and though it was stupid it was probably necessary._

Kibaou's response came in just a moment afterward.

_Kibaou: Shut the f*ck up, Spiegel._

The brunette's eyes widened slightly but quickly calmed down, as he was used to the outbursts that the Vice Commander of the «Aincrad Liberation Force» often displayed. He closed his menu and rolled onto his side, thinking about other things like his stats.

Kibaou and Spiegel were a team, much like Jace and Sinon had become as of late. Spiegel served the same role as Jace as the Stormer, but Kibaou was quite different from Sinon. His role was to unload bullet after bullet into larger mobs and weaken them to the point where they could be easily dealt by Spiegel's SMG.

They were an AGI/STR combo, which wasn't at all unusual. But somehow, fighting mobs came much more easily to Kibaou than it did to Spiegel. Spiegel chalked it up to Kibaou having a massive gun. Spiegel may have been very fast, but he was seriously lacking in STR. The light machine guns that Kibaou used were far too heavy for him to wield. Somehow, he felt like Kibaou came up on top with the better half of the deal.

He shook his head. They couldn't both fight Warlord style; the heavy gunner needed a speedy hit and run man to take down the quicker opponents. It was simply a matter of body type making sense. Though Kibaou wasn't large, he wasn't as small as Spiegel, whose smaller frame was much harder to hit than Kibaou's would be with the same AGI stat. Kibaou's size also made him a better tank, so the added STR boost made more sense on the spiky-headed Warlord than the tall, thin Stormer.

He received another message from the fiery soldier and opened it, reading it briefly before typing out his response.

_Kibaou: Im sorry. That was uncalld for._

_Spiegel: I understand the frustration. I do not agree with Thinker, I can only see where he's coming from. You don't want everyone on your hide, do you?_

Kibaou's response was a simple one: No.

_Spiegel: Then make sure you act calm throughout this whole ordeal. The easiest way to get back into the swing of things is by making Thinker think that you're responsible, and the easiest way to do that would be to take this punishment and swallow your pride._

Kibaou didn't respond for a while, but when he did, it drew a light smile on Spiegel's face.

_Kibaou: Your not too dumb for a stormer._

Spiegel rolled his eyes and closed out of his messages before turning away and looking across the beach. As long as he wasn't allowed back to Base Camp, he might as well enjoy his temporary leave on vacation. And what better of a place than here, where the waters were crystal blue and the white sands were just the right temperature–warm enough to keep his feet nice and toasty without burning them.

Spiegel rolled over on his towel, staring off into the distance in the other direction. The waves lapped gently at the shore, the only noise that could be heard for hundreds of meters around. He sighed and began to hum quietly to himself, enjoying the briny breeze on his brow. His eyelids slowly began to grow heavier and heavier until they shut delicately and his breathing evened out.

–o–

When Spiegel opened his eyes, he was not where he had been. He definitely had not fallen asleep in a cold, damp room. The sight made him jump and glance around quickly. The walls were made of stone, as well as the floor, and there were torches that cast eerie shadows on the walls behind him. He went to check his map but found it not working.

"Where the hell am I?" he wondered aloud, trying to get up. His hand stopped a few inches from its previous position as tried to roll himself over, and he realized that he was restrained by iron shackles–chained to a metal table. His voice rose slightly louder and higher in pitch as he spoke again in panic. "What's going on?"

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a door open slightly and heard the sound of it shutting. Before he could look to see who had opened the door though, a knife was at his throat. "You make one wrong move and I end your life, you hear me?" A high pitched but certainly male voice said quietly with a taste of insanity. "You're only still alive because Xaxa wants to talk to you. So be a good little boy."

Spiegel nodded and the knife moved away slowly, allowing the boy to see his captor. What he saw was far from a face. The man's head was wrapped like a ninja, with just his eyes visible, and even those were obscured by a dark, modern, hooded cloak that fell halfway down his calves. He wore black gloves and gauntlets, giving him the appearance of a hooded school shooter in America–though the hood threw off the look a bit.

"What is this place?" Spiegel asked timidly.

The man groaned loudly. "Why do you ask so many questions? You're _supposed_ to be cowering in fear!" After a moment of silence, the man continued. "Well, this is a cave in a classified location. We to call this room the fungeon, though. Like dungeon, but it's fun… well for _us_ at least."

Spiegel shivered as the man began howling with ravenous laughter. "Oh god I wish I had a «Holocrystal» so I could capture that face for the rest of the time we're in here," he gasped between cackles. "Oh god. You'll be real fun to mess with once Xaxa's done with you. I can't wait for it!"

"You will have no fun, Johnny," a deep voice boomed from the doorway. It was so odd, Spiegel was sure that he'd heard that voice before… Not on Aincrad or anything of the like, but before any of this happened. Before Aincrad… even since he was young. "Alright, Spiegel. You and I are going to have a talk."

"Sh… Shouichi?" Spiegel asked cautiously, trying to remember the voice.

A hand came from nowhere and smacked him hard across the face. Spiegel recoiled and came back to look up into a similarly dressed character's face–though he wore a different mask with a skull and gleaming, piercing red eyes. Xaxa spoke once more in a quiet but threatening tone that made the brunette's blood stop rushing through his veins and nearly freeze. "You should know better than to call someone by their earthly name on Aincrad. It's Xaxa to you here, even if I am your brother."

**Author's Notes**

**Alright, so first thing's first: I edited the last chapter. Jace and Sinon are not in a relationship, as of Chapter 7. It felt like there wasn't enough fluff, and that there would be no option to develop their characters individually. While I do indeed think it's a good pairing, I don't think that it worked going forward as of this point.**

**Secondly: I have been asked a few times about when the chapters are coming out, and that information is on my profile, which can found by clicking my name right by the Story's Title. Usually, I can write 500-1000 words in one day, unless I get to a tricky part in a story. It should take me an average of two to three weeks for me to post a chapter. So don't ask, just look. I may be early, and I may be late, but I should always be within a week of the date posted on my page.**

**Third: The viewpoints were one of the main things that made me take so long getting this chapter out. I got grounded over spring break and I had to figure out a system that would work well (which ended up being roughly 2.4K words per viewpoint and 500 words of A/N), then I had to write each of the things. Then I realized the chapters were a bit short so I had to beef them up in order to make the 10K word goal. All this to say sorry that this chapter took so long and I hope that the future goes faster.**

**Now onto what you really care about: the notes about the story.**

**Jace will have a mini flashback in many of the following chapters in regards to his past with Jackal for two reasons: firstly, it allows me to get a fresh starting point in the story without having to change perspectives; and two because Jackal is just about Jace's foil. They're polar opposites–or will be by the time Jackal's character is fully developed. I don't know what you guys think about it, but I thought I'd address that because I feel like some questions will come in regarding the scenarios with Jackal.**

**Secondly, writing Asuna in battle is weird without a sword. Like **_**unnaturally**_** weird. So I added this minor plotline (calling it an arc seems a bit like an exaggeration, as I would barely call the Ghillie of Babel arc an arc) to make it a bit more canon. I get that this is an AU, but my writing style is to deviate from canon only when there is no material otherwise (unless it's a drastic deviation, in which case it can't ruin the story, but has to be like a character replacement or something). That's why I made Kayaba's speech and the First Clearing word for word what happened in the anime.**

**Third, **_**the champion plotline gets a twist.**_** Jace has three rivals/enemies: Kibaou, Spiegel, and Jackal. So since Jace's champion totem thing was a long-coat, it only seems logical that Kibaou's is a long-coat as well (and the reason for that is simply aesthetic and personal preference on my part). Sinon, however, is not a character who tries to be flashy, but more tactical. Therefore, her champion totem thing is a Ghillie Suit. It's more in line with her character, and it changes things up a bit. As for how it comes about to match their characters and all, that will be explained.**

**And last, we get to Spiegel.**

**Spiegel was a very weird character to write. Part of that is because I want Jace's sense of paranoia to be… well, exactly that at first. I think my plan for him is obvious at this point, with introduction of Xaxa in the last hundred words of chapter content. I will not say exactly what I plan, but as per the usual, I will not deviate from canon… yet. Anyway though, I try to portray him as we see him in the beginning of the Phantom Bullet arc–a generally good guy (though he happens to be in the wrong crowd here.)**

**Alright, I think that's all for this chapter. Please follow and favorite, and I would really love reviews. Can we shoot for five reviews this chapter? Is that too much to ask? Yes? Okay. *hides* Feel free to PM me with any questions about the story. I'll try to answer them if I can.**

**That's all for now! Artie Ross out! **


	9. The Ancient Tree

**Author's Notes**

**Hey guys, sorry the chapter took so long. I'll get to that at the end of the chapter, but first I have a bit of a news statement to make. We are now getting into the interesting meat of the story. I have been working on developing the characters up until this point (and honestly, probably I probably still should in regards to Sinon) so that they will be fully fleshed out by the time that I got into non-canon plotline stuff.**

**This story is planned to be seven story arcs long─roughly seven hundred thousand words or seventy chapters, for those who wish to know length. This chapter marks the end of the first one: the Exposition Arc. These are going to be called Arc Finales and at the beginning of these chapters I will explain what has happened in the last arc and what will happen in the next arc.**

**In the Exposition Arc, we started with Sinon. She met a boy named Jace, who taught her what she needed to know about the world of Galactic Warfare Online. Then Kayaba made the announcement that death in the game meant death in real life and Jace convinced her to team up with him.**

**In the next chapter, Jace battled a Major Boss and came across an item called the «Sky Coat» that maxed out his AGI stat. He spoke to Argo about this item and paid her to look into it. Then he and Sinon got an inn, shared some fluff, and woke up in the morning to get confronted by Kibaou and Spiegel. A character named Diabel saved them and they went on their way.**

**Chapter three saw the battle of «Illfang.» Pretty much everything in this chapter went as canon, with the exception of Jace and Sinon's interactions. Pretty average boss fight.**

**In chapter four, Sinon got a new outfit and they headed up to the «Ethereal Highlands» and down to the «Black Forest» to battle the «Slenderman.» Sinon started the «Ghillie of Babel» mission, and there was fluff throughout.**

**After that, Jace and Sinon went down to «Ashley's» and then to a park. There was a lot of fluff and then a flashback from Jace in regards to something that happened during the beta-test. Then they trained with the Clearers and talked to Argo about the «Sky Coat» and the news regarding it: that Kibaou had one as well.**

**Chapter six was a massive battle for most of the chapter. Sinon and Jace had to split up for a moment and Jace and Kirito began working closely together. At the end, there was a small party and the whole team partied. Then Kirito and Asuna partnered up and there was very minor fluff there.**

**Then chapter seven was like a Holy Grail of fluff. Jace and Sinon celebrated Christmas and it was pretty adorable. He gave her clothes, she gave him a watch, I wanted to give them each other's bodies… but I refrained, so they aren't together yet.**

**Finally we arrive at the last chapter; chapter eight. In the last chapter, we started off with Jace, who had to leave Sinon again so she could do a mission. Jace then had a flashback again to his time with Jackal. Then we joined Asuna for her brief backstory before heading into her main problem─getting a «Plasmid Sword» so she could work better with Kirito. Then we went to Sinon's point of view and watched her fight a dragon and kick ass, before wrapping up with Spiegel and his time being kidnapped by the «Laughing Coffin» on his vacation from the «Aincrad Liberation Force.»**

**I would like to apologize for wasting all this time. Enjoy the Arc Finale.**

Disclaimer: I appreciate and honor the fact that you are taking the time to read my story. I thank you for any reviews, follows, and favorites. I do not own Sword Art Online, nor do I own any of its characters. Sword Art Online belongs to Reki Kawahara, ASCII Media Works, and the SAO Project. Please support the official release.

Character Ages

Kirito- 16 (October 7th, 2006)

Asuna- 17 (September 30th, 2005)

Sinon- 16/17 (January 17th, 2007)

Jace- 17 (February 13th, 2006)

ARC FINALE Chapter 9: The Ancient Tree

Monday, January 9th 2023. Continent: Ianides. Politik. User Kirito

Getting Asuna's weapon was taking Kirito _much_ longer than he expected.

First they had begun training her how to use an «OHPS»–a «One-Handed Plasmid Sword»–and told her the basics of how to use it. It didn't work. Then they decided to start her on a «THPS»–«Two-Handed Plasmid Sword»–but she was even worse with it. Her slashes were wild and uncontrolled, as though the tip was too heavy for her to control.

"If you can't slash, that eliminates the most common types of «Plasmid Swords»–the swords," Kirito grumbled. He enjoyed Asuna's company, but the two were getting more and more frustrated. Asuna had only left the «SoS Headquarters» twice since they arrived the day after New Year's, and the Black Swordsman hadn't gone out much more than her. He hadn't killed a Xylote since last Thursday.

"Nobody asked you to be here," Asuna snapped back. "You're not helping anyway, you just bat the sword away before I can even raise it up!"

"Well I'm sorry that you're so slow," Kirito hissed.

"Ex-_cuse_ me!" Katsuo interrupted loudly, stepping between the two just before they could pull up a duel. "Enough bickering! You are in a sacred place, the home of the «School of Swordsman!» Now is not the time for petty arguments and bitter words! I said it would not be easy, but I didn't know that _you_ hadn't recognized that, Kirito."

"Why can't she just try her «Rapier Plasmid Sword?»" Kirito asked. "She can't slash at all, so why not give her something to stab with? Besides, she already has one of those laying around and gathering dust in her inventory."

"That is not the method we use," Katsuo answered. "You know that as well as I. The longer you are cooped up here, the tenser you both become. Kirito, why don't you and Asuna go out and grind for a day or two? Start a mission. Come back when you're stress-free, and then we'll take another hit at this."

Kirito and Asuna looked at each other with fire in their eyes, and then sighed as they realized Katsuo was right. Taking a break–though not at _all_ what they wanted to do, as it would mean less time to get out to the frontlines–was their only real option. If they were to keep on fighting over which weapon Asuna should be using, it would weaken their bond. And then they'd have to take a break from _each _other, which would be much worse.

They walked out of the «SoS Headquarters» with limp arms, barely even moving at a pace that could be called walking. Kirito hadn't realized quite how tired he was, but he was sure that if he was tired, Asuna was downright _exhausted_. The thought that she had been training for fourteen hours a day with only miniscule breaks in between sessions was enough to make him look at her in awe. He could see now why she was so short tempered.

"Don't stress out," Kirito told his partner. "You haven't had time in the past week to really think about anything other than finding your weapon type."

Asuna sighed and looked down as they walked. "I'm just not used to not being good at things," she admitted. "Back in real life, I was in the top of my class at just about everything I did. Now that I'm learning how to use «Plasmid Swords,» I feel self-aware that I'm not the best at using them."

"We can't _both_ be the best," Kirito teased. This earned a quiet giggle from Asuna, and it made the Black Swordsman happy that he could make her smile even at a time like now. "Don't worry about it. We'll be out of here before you know it."

Though he thought his statement was a reassuring one, Asuna's face held mixed emotions, but before Kirito could read her, she turned away, shutting him out while she put the mask on that she'd been donning for the past few days, the one of the hardworking woman training to be a swordswoman that leaked no emotion at all. With a sigh, the boy turned back to the front and they walked the rest of the way to the «Spatial Rift» in silence.

The jump through the «Spatial Rift» was no shock to Kirito by now, as he had played for months longer than Asuna and had therefor traveled through «Spatial Rift» much more frequently than her. He handled the loss of control in his body, his soul being taken away and sent flying through space, and the returning of his consciousness to a new and identical body with as much thought towards the event as tying his shoes back in Japan–just another day in the business of living in a videogame world. He touched down in «Donquix» without stumbling, though the same couldn't be said for Asuna.

"I don't know how you can stay still after those jumps," Asuna breathed as she barely managed to keep from stumbling.

"Practice," Kirito said absentmindedly as he looked around the city. It appeared to be modeled after a Dutch village, with white-walled buildings and thatch roves. "Argo said that there was a certain mission that I could do around here but it should be easy for the both of us," Kirito explained as he looked above the rooftops. "All we need to do is find a Hispanic looking knight-like NPC by a tall windmill."

"Doesn't that remind you of a story?" Asuna wondered thoughtfully as she followed the boy. "I could have sworn I read a book about a Spanish knight in English class."

"Doesn't ring a bell," Kirito mumbled as he searched the skyline. After a moment, he pointed into the horizon at a massive building with spinning blades. "That has to be where we're headed, though. It's the biggest building in the village."

Asuna nodded and they walked toward the windmill in comfortable silence. Normally, Kirito would have felt uncomfortable because of the lull in conversation, but he felt like Asuna needed a peaceful moment. Unfortunately, the streets of «Donquix» weren't quite quiet. Vendors hawked their goods to players on the street, groups of players were talking, a small Army was sitting by the fountain drinking an alcoholic beverage and enjoying it a bit too much for Kirito's personal taste.

"This is one rowdy village, isn't it?" Asuna asked, walking a bit quicker. "It's like the less tech there is, the more noise the city can produce."

"Yeah," Kirito nodded. "It shouldn't be much further though. Just over this hill."

As they reached the crest of the hill, they saw how massive the windmill was. It towered above them what must have been hundreds of feet in the air, and at the door was a man in a suit of black armor who was hacking at the door with a «Plasmid Sword» furiously. Kirito and Asuna looked at each other, unsure of what to do, but they knew there was no option other than talking to him.

"Excuse me," Asuna said sweetly, tapping the man on the shoulder.

As soon as her finger touched the cold metal of his shoulder plate, the man swung around and threw a wild slash in Asuna's direction. The strike missed horribly, but it was enough of a shock to send the girl back two meters and to draw her rifle and point it straight at the man's face. He was definitely Hispanic looking with dark grey hair and darker eyes. "Who art thou, are wherefore art thou here?" the man asked, dark eyes gleaming as he stared at Asuna.

"Um, we were wondering if you had a mission for us," Kirito said hopefully.

"A mission? No," the man scoffed. "A_ quest,_ on the other hand, I do have." Then he turned around and slashed into the wall a great many more times before turning around as if it was completely normal for Spanish soldiers dressed like knights to hack away at windmills. "I'm stuck her fighting this beast, but there's a rising terror in the grove just east of here. Some say that it looks like a cedar tree, but it's not. It's a monster, the likes of which haven't been seen near this humble village for years. Defeat the monster and you will be rewarded greatly."

As the knight turned around again to carve away at the windmill, which had «Immortal Object» markers popping up everywhere, a menu popped up in front of the pair, asking them if they wanted to accept the mission–called «Man of La Mancha.» Asuna and Kirito looked at each other, nodded in unison and tapped the accept button confidently.

"Be on your way!" the knight said with another slash backwards. "More monsters approach by the minute!"

Kirito couldn't believe his eyes. The windmill was a massive beast that towered stories upon stories over him. Its red skin gave off a hellish glow of pure demonic energy as its thin black lips curled back into a gruesome snarl, revealing teeth that looked sharper than razor blades. Its eyes, perhaps, were the scariest thing of all, yellow with white pupils.

It looked like something straight out of hell.

"How did that windmill turn into a monster?" Asuna shouted, taking a step back in shock.

"Go to the Cedar!" the knight called over his shoulder as he jumped over a swipe. "If you get there maybe we can reverse the effects!"

Kirito grabbed Asuna and ran down the street and away from the Spanish knight. He knew where Asuna remembered the story from–it was like the book, a next generation fanfiction of Don Quixote, with him and Asuna as the young knights. He wasn't nearly strong enough to take down that windmill, so they would have to trust the Spanish knight with keeping the destruction of the town at bay.

–o–

The «Gardenial Glade» wasn't that hard of a maze to get through. According to the in-game newspaper, «Aincradian Alerts,» a high ranking member of the «Aincrad Liberation Force» had led an expedition through the forest and had been brutally massacred. They had walked for hours before a Xylote had even crossed their paths, and it was dispatched easily by the two players.

"Hey Asuna," Kirito said to his companion as they walked through the forest, "doesn't it seem a bit weird that the «ALF» got wiped out in here?"

"I was thinking the same thing," she said with a nod. "We've literally seen _only one_ Xylote in the whole time that we've been here, which is about the regular amount that spawn in any area. This is a dungeon, though, so the spawn-rate should be much higher."

"Then what's going on here?" Kirito asked.

"I'm not sure," Asuna said as she turned the corner just ahead of Kirito. "But I'm sure the answer can be found here."

Kirito rounded the corner as well and saw a brown and green monster sitting solemnly in the center of the clearing while he slept. The boy guessed that it was at least thirty feet tall. He took in all the information he could from looking at it. Argo had told him that the monster used physical attacks involving its slender blade like arms, but his left hand formed a cannon. When they stepped within fifty feet, the monster's eyes blinked open and it roared ferociously. A name popped up beside the beast: «Arborius, Lord of Illusion.»

"You ready, Kirito?" Asuna asked, equipping her light rifle.

"Ready," Kirito said with a smile. Then his eyes grew cold and he and Asuna began to engage in one of the most grueling battles of their time in GWO. It lasted for about four hours, and by the time the boss had only one meager percent of its HP left, they were facing an exhaustion the likes of which they had never imagined possible before.

"Just one more strike!" Asuna cried, raising her gun. "Do it together!"

Kirito nodded and dashed in with a shout, rolling under a blast from the boss's cannon arm and leaping over its arm blade. He drove his sword straight into the monster's heart at the same time his companion shot a bullet into the center of its forehead. The monster's HP slowly dropped to zero.

Then one of the top five most important events in the Death Game incident happened.

«Arborius» froze in his position, glitching physically. Holes littered its body that were patched almost instantly like sepia films. Then, parts of his body shifted horizontally from itself like an old TV before the beast finally glowed blue and shattered into millions upon millions of cyan polygons that spread in the breeze like dandelion seeds.

"What was that?" Asuna asked cautiously as the "Congratulations" message appeared.

"It looked like some sort of bug; no big deal since the game devs are probably watching the game these days." Kirito said scanning the spoils of the battle. "Did you get anything good?"

"I got the Last Attack Bonus, but I haven't looked at it yet," the girl said with a shrug.

Kirito looked at his screen and saw that he had a Last Attack Bonus as well. "Wait, you have the Last Attack Bonus?" he asked. "How is that possible?"

Asuna looked at Kirito out of the corner of her eyes, a sense of annoyance evident. "What, I can't be faster than you? I obviously hit it last."

"No, that's not what I mean," Kirito said, opening his Last Attack Bonus and looking over it. "I got the «Blackwyrm Coat» just now as the Last Attack Bonus."

"What?" Asuna gasped, a look of deep confusion in her eyes. "But I got the «Whitewyrm Coat» just now!"

"What does the description say?" Kirito asked.

"It says 'the nimblest of the Oblivia, Letratex, granted this long coat to his champion, Arborius, to make him faster. It also granted him immortality, so long as he was the quickest one in battle. Equip?'"

Kirito read through his description silently as Asuna read hers aloud. They were the same word for word, and equipping the items showed that they were the exact same, albeit Kirito's was black with white accents and Asuna's was white with red. "How can any of this be possible?" he asked with a groan.

"Maybe we both attacked at the exact same time," Asuna said. "But that wouldn't explain why the items match our current color schemes."

Kirito grabbed a fistful of his hair in frustration caused by the puzzle in front of him. "I guess all we can do is ask Argo if she can find out," he said after a moment with a deep breath. "Come on, we should get back to Politik.

)-0-(

Saturday, January 14th 2023. Continent: Ianides. Base Camp. User Kibaou

Kibaou was furious.

He'd been forced out of the «ALF» for a full two weeks due to his EXP grinding mission in the «Gardenial Glade» that some of the noobs died in. It honestly wasn't his fault; he'd told his men to retreat. If they hadn't stood there for those four seconds they could have made it out alive. Unfortunately, Thinker did not think the same, and had sent him out to "lose his adrenaline" on a "mandatory vacation."

He had gone to some stupid town near the frontlines and looked around for days for good quests that he could solo. Truth be told, it wasn't useless; he had managed to get his hands on some pretty good equipment–a new light machine gun, a new energy shield, a handful of «Photon Grenades»–and his level increased by about 3, which was starting to become impressive at his level.

Then he received a message from his Lieutenant Colonel, Kobatz.

In the message, Kobatz told him that Thinker was seriously considering demoting Kibaou to the rank of Major. Kibaou began to get increasingly mad with every day as the rumors looked like they were getting truer and truer. Finally, on his last day, Kibaou got word that Kobatz had been asked to step into the role of the Colonel for a few weeks until the former could cool down his jets.

Today was the day that he came back.

Kibaou stormed past the guards in front of the «Black Iron Palace» with rage, ignoring the cautious stutters of "Colonel, you're not supposed to arrive until 10 AM today!" and "Um, sir, you really shouldn't visit the General at this time." He was on the warpath with bloodlust unmatched by any monster in all of Aincrad as he climbed the spiral staircase to the twentieth floor.

"I _hope_ you enjoyed your time without me," Kibaou growled furiously as he threw open the doors to his Commander, Thinker's office, a dozen guards in tow. "But it's over. I'm back, and I'll be returning to my post immediately."

"Ah, Kibaou," Thinker said as he poured himself a cup of tea without so much as a glance at the fuming man who stood before him. "I thought you were coming, I heard a ruckus that only you could make coming from the first floor."

"But we're on the twentieth floor, sir," one of the guards said.

"Yes, Jekyll," Thinker said looking up at the guard who spoke with a twinkle in his eyes. "Your Colonel makes quite a lot of noise." Kibaou flushed deeply as the soldiers did their best to stifle their laughter and a smirk pulled at the Commander's lips. "Get out. All of you," the Commander said lightly. "Your Colonel and I have things to discuss."

The guards filtered out of the room slowly, almost grunting as they attempted to close the door. As soon as the guards left, Thinker's smile left his lips. "We lost a lot of good men because of your carelessness."

"We already discussed this–"

"Obviously not enough," Thinker countered. "A duo named Kirito and Asuna took care of that dungeon by themselves five days ago, and they found the boss. They took it out by themselves. It was your lack of cautiousness that killed all of those people on that mission. You're demoted to the rank of Major. Kobatz will be taking your place as Colonel and Spiegel will be your superior until you can learn to handle power."

"You can't do that!" Kibaou yelled. "Kobatz doesn't know how to lead a troop; he's the reason the others stayed back and fought the monsters! He was fighting the monster after I called the order to retreat!"

"What formation were you in?" Thinker asked, taking a drink of tea.

"STOCO Flank, OV Mid," Kibaou told the General.

"Stormers and Commandos taking the left and right flanks respectively with Overlords taking potshots from a short distance?"

"Yes," Kibaou nodded.

"Why were the Overlords not flanking?" Thinker demanded.

"Thinker–"

"Just because you're an important leader doesn't mean you can weasel your way out of danger!" Thinker shouted, slamming his cup on the table, spilling some of the hot liquid on his hand. His jaw tightened, but other than that, he showed no signs of pain or discomfort from the accident. He went on at a more quiet volume. "There's a reason why Overlords and Stormers take Flank in this Army. Stormers can maneuver easier and Overlords are tanks. The Commandos and Riflemen are for Midrange because that's what they're designed for."

"LMG's are more effective at a distance–"

"This discussion is over," Thinker interrupted quietly. "Protest any more and you're fired."

In that moment, the tension was thick enough to cut with daggers–which was convenient, as that was what the two men's stares were made from.

"You're gonna regret this, Thinker," Kibaou said ominously, whipping around and throwing open the door. "One day, I'm gonna take you down."

"Is that a threat, Kibaou?" Thinker challenged, stopping Kibaou in the doorway. He set his cup down on the table before continuing. "I made you Colonel because you're useful in terms of recruitment. You aren't invaluable; I can get another person that's just as charismatic as you are to do a better job. You're only still here because I believe that you'll grow out of this childish phase. Don't destroy that belief."

Kibaou stopped for a moment, facing the hallway silently before walking out.

Thinker had a point. Kibaou was one of two Colonels in the «Army's» forces, but he could be replaced fairly easily. If he was to become irreplaceable, he would have to take over the Army. And in order to do that, he'd need two things: a following and power. He already had the following, and with power he would be able to overthrow that arrogant bastard. And if Thinker had managed to get both of those things, it couldn't be that hard to get them either, could it?

Just then he was stopped by a man as he attempted to head to his own office on the next floor down. The man was tall and looked like he was about 38, definitely one of the older players who was trapped in the game. His hair was short and darker than the night, with sharp eyes below his bushy eyebrows. He wore heavy armor with a strange castle-like crest and a red cape.

"Hey, Kibaou," the man said in an overly masculine voice, climbing up the stairs. "I heard you coming up the stairs from my office. I finished the paperwork I was working on real fast."

"Kobatz, your office is on the nineteenth floor," Kibaou mused.

"You make a lot of noise," the man responded, making Kibaou fume silently without realizing it. "Anyway, Spiegel and I have been looking for you. The kid's down in your office, says he has something to talk to you about. Some sort of deal some players he met on vacation want to make with you. He said it sounded really good."

Kibaou nodded, biting his tongue as he prevented all of the curses he wanted to unleash at Kobatz. He walked to the stairs and headed down, wondering who Spiegel could have met. He had opted to go to a small tourist town in the south of the continent that apparently had almost no one there.

Kibaou opened the door to his office, inwardly smiling as Spiegel turned around and looked at the boy. "Hey, Kibaou," the boy said with a smile. "It's been a while and–"

"Kobatz said something about a deal," the spiky haired man interrupted. "Give me the details."

Spiegel shut his mouth, his smile gone as he nodded solemnly at the Colonel. The boy waited for his supervisor to sit at his desk before beginning to speak. "So right after I finished messaging you that day about Thinker, I took a nap–"

"Is this story worth hearing?" Kibaou interrupted again.

"Yes," Spiegel groaned. "Keep listening. Like I was saying, I took a nap on the beach and when I woke up, I was in a dungeon–not like one with monsters, but an _actual dungeon._ I was chained to a table and there was nobody else around me. I called out for help and this guy came out and put a knife to my throat. His name is Johnny Black, and he brought in this guy named Xaxa–"

"Spiegel," Kibaou huffed as he poured himself some tea. "Get on with it."

The boy nodded as Kibaou took a sip. "Anyway, he was a red player."

Kibaou gasped, choking on his hot tea. The liquid scorched his throat as it struggled to trickle down his windpipe. "How the fuck did you survive?"

"He's my brother."

"You have family in-game?" Kibaou coughed, a bit shocked.

"Yeah, but we finished creating our avatars at different times," Spiegel explained. "I waited for him for a while, but I figured I would just meet up with him later. Then when we couldn't log out, I tried to send him a message, but he wasn't using the username he usually used for most games and–"

"Okay, you met some red players. The point?" Kibaou asked again as he slowly began to be able to breathe again.

"He's in a group of three, and the leader is named PoH," Spiegel explained. "PoH has an offer. He knows about your mission and he knows that Thinker planned to demote you last week. He has offered his services as a sort of personal hit squad in exchange for food, equipment, men, etc."

"_I should report this,"_ Kibaou thought to himself. _"It would raise my credibility and I'd probably get some kind of recognition, which could increase my following. But for some reason I can't."_

The next sentence Kibaou uttered would change the face of Aincrad as it was known.

"Tell me more."

–o–

Sunday, January 15th 2023. Continent: Ianides. Thieves' Pass. User Kibaou

Spiegel and Kibaou walked to the top of «Thieves' Pass» in silence that Monday. Kibaou was having second doubts. He could get in some serious trouble for accepting a deal like this, and all for the purpose of having a military police?

Oh, there were definitely advantages to him getting something akin to Nazi Gestapo from WWII. He could take out threats to his credibility easily, and anyone that was an upcoming threat could be easily destroyed. And all for what, a few of their items and maybe a man here or there? Even better, the troops he did give up would stay in the «Aincrad Liberation Force» since «Laughing Coffin» was technically a Squadron (only containing three members at the time, but it would grow, Kibaou knew) as opposed to an official Army.

On the downside, if he accepted, he'd be locked up in his own «Army Headquarters» jail.

Spiegel blindfolded his friend before tying a cloth around his own eyes. They waited for about three minutes before the sound of three people crunching snow under their boots came to their ears. The three men directed them into what Kibaou assumed was a cavern. They continued walking downhill for a long time before they heard a door sliding open and were sent into a room that was several degrees warmer than the previous tunnel.

"You may remove your blindfolds," came a deep voice at a quiet tone that sent chills up his spine.

Kibaou did as he was told and saw three men standing in front of him. Spiegel had described each of them to the spiky-haired man–he was dealing with Johnny Black, Xaxa, and their leader, PoH. The one who had spoken was PoH, and on his left and right were Xaxa and Johnny Black respectively.

"_No going back now," _Kibaou thought. "Spiegel told me what's up, as far as I know."

"Spiegel is not the one making the deal," Johnny Black said in his high, crazed voice. "We will be giving the terms–"

"_I_ will be giving the terms," PoH corrected, putting a hand warningly in front Johnny, who looked down in what Kibaou had to guess was disappointment or restrained anger. "First thing is first. Each member of our Squadron must be given two large meals a day and equipment of equal quality to that of the «Aincrad Liberation Force.» Our Squadron will also receive at least one member every month, though more than one is preferable. If these things are provided, we will give you our services as a hit team."

"And what are your terms for the hit team?" Kibaou asked. "I'm not dumb, I know you won't go on missions that require more men than you have and such, but if this is gonna work, I need to know _all_ the terms."

Xaxa growled quietly as PoH nodded slowly. "The first rule is that we will only carry out missions that we believe are possible with the members we have, which will exclude myself. Second, we will not enter any cities to do reconnaissance; that is up to you and your men. Third, we will not engage in straight out warfare. All missions will be ambushes and sneak attacks."

Kibaou frowned, thinking. The terms sounded good, but if he wanted to back out at any point, he would be killed–probably by Johnny, who seemed the most vicious of all of them, though PoH was the leader. Something about the man's eloquent speech didn't intimidate the spiky-haired man as much as the crazed sound in Johnny Black's voice. And so, it was with a hesitant voice that Kibaou spoke again.

"I'll do it."

)-0-(

Wednesday, January 18th 2023. Continent: Ianides. Lhuna. User Sinon

Sinon woke up late the next morning in her and Jace's inn room. It was a chilly morning, and she wrapped up tighter in her blanket with her eyes shut tighter. The night before, she and Jace had celebrated her birthday. He had bought her a new pistol–which she needed very much, as hers was beginning to get under-levelled and unusable–and some armor in case she wanted to hide her «Ghillie Suit.»

She rolled over on her back as she thought. The armor Jace had given her was much better than that… thing she had worn in the beginning of winter last year. Looking back on it, she couldn't imagine why she wanted the «Sexy Commando Suit» in the first place. She had chalked it up to Ashley being a fantastic spokesperson; if there was no way that she would wear something like that outside of Aincrad, why would she ever want to wear it inside a game of perverted boys?

She opened her eyes and opened up her menu, looking at the slowly rotating armor set. It was an olive drab similar in color to her… thing… but it was modest and made of metal with a comfortable interior. It was created by a smith named Lisbeth, who had been travelling through the lower towns for a while, selling quality equipment to Armies and players alike.

The sniper rolled over once more to look at Jace, who was sitting off the side of his bed. His elbows were planted firmly on his knees, his middle fingers meeting at the base of his skull on the back of his neck. He appeared to be concentrating heavily on something, thinking hard. His right thumb brushed gently over a thin scar on his chin.

Sinon had noticed before that the boy had scars on his chin and down the back of his neck, but she had never had the courage to ask where they had come from. It was odd, but although they had been travelling together for three months, she still found it hard to approach him at times.

Jace was enjoyable to be around most of the time, of course. They had fantastic conversations, and she could honestly consider him to be one of her two friends. But when he had that one look on his face, the one where he stared down as if determined to discover something about the ground, everything changed. He wouldn't even hear her at times, then, and she would have to walk near him or in front of him and scare him back into reality.

"Jace?" she asked cautiously, trying anyway.

Her attempt did not fail, and Jace looked towards her slowly before replying. "Hello, Sinon. Did you sleep well?"

Sinon paused for a moment, surprised that her attempt worked. "Oh," she sighed quietly. Then she nodded. "It was a bit cold, but it was definitely an okay night."

Jace cocked his head, getting up leisurely. "Are you still cold?"

Sinon shook her head. "No, I'm just a bit chilly. Nothing another blanket can't do," she answered. "How about you?"

"I'm always cold," Jace complained. "But that's not important. I have to go somewhere for a little while."

"Where are we going?" Sinon asked, sitting up and curling her blanket tighter around herself. "I have to get ready first, but that won't take more than five minutes."

"We'd have to go to «Wavecrest» all the way up north," Jace explained, opening his menu and moving to his equipment. He took off his shirt and scrolled through his menu, searching for the Sky Coat and a spare T-shirt. Sinon noticed that the scars were worse on his back, thick and winding like country roads down the hilly terrain of his flesh. Before she could notice anything else, Jace had re-equipped the rest of his clothes and was getting up. "It'll be more dangerous than usual, Sinon."

Sinon shrugged and began to get up, heading towards the bathroom. "Good thing you'll have me then," she said as she closed the door. She dropped the blanket, revealing her green V-neck and sweatpants, and opened her menu. "You'll be alright, don't worry."

"I'm worried about _you,_ Sinon," Jace said through the door as the girl removed her pants and shirt, searching again for the olive drab armor. "I've been hired by the «Red Dragons of War» to stop a criminal guild, and there's no telling what they're capable of."

Sinon rolled her eyes. "Jace, I'll be fine," she huffed. "You can't just protect me by keeping me in safe-zones. I need to do things so that I can thrive in here. Some things I may even have to do by myself. I came out of the Cyclonic Crypt just fine. Just have some faith in me."

Jace sighed, leaning with his back against the door. Sinon imagined how awkward it would be if she had accidentally not closed the door all the way and he had accidentally opened the door, but shook off the thought with a blush. She quickly equipped the green armor and knocked against the door, signaling to Jace that she would be exiting. He leaned off of the door and Sinon stepped out.

"The armor looks good," the blonde said with a nod. "Practical and intimidating. You might have looked…" Jace paused and blushed as he went on honestly, "hotter… in the other one, but this one is much better. It suits you more."

Sinon looked down, the faintest hint of a red tinge appearing on her cheeks. "I couldn't stand the other one."

Jace hesitated for a moment before delicately reaching out a hand and rubbing the back of the girl's neck. She started for a moment, but she slowly stepped closer and held him in a soft embrace. "There were a lot of people looking at you, I know," he said quietly. "Don't worry about it anymore, though."

Sinon nodded into his chest and pulled away, looking directly at one of the boy's chin scars.

The blonde noticed and pulled away, walking to the nightstand by his bed and grabbing the key. "Come on," he said quietly. "General Akiyo will be waiting for us in «Wavecrest» now. We'll have to get to the «Spatial Rift» soon."

"Jace–"

_Click._

Without as much as another word, he closed the door, walking out to the lobby.

"He's so aggravating," Sinon huffed, making a quick scan of the room to make sure they hadn't left anything. "How does he think this works, We both stay completely mysterious without learning anything about each other for the rest of our time in here?" She paused for a moment as she realized that that was exactly what many people in her situation would do, especially since she had only known the boy for a few months and she was sleeping in the same room as him most nights. That thought brought another one to her mind, one that she hadn't thought of before, but certainly wasn't ready for.

Just how well did she know Jace _really_?

She knew that he had scars in real life, which meant he probably had an accident as a child or something, and that he didn't speak of a family back home. Sometimes, he would say something about a "Silver" in his dreams, but it was said in a much higher pitched voice than usual. On top of that, he knew a lot about the literature that had been put in Galactic Warfare Online as readable Japanese books.

She didn't truly know anything else about him.

She shivered and stepped outside of the room, heading down to the lobby to meet Jace. He was drinking something, looking just as concentrated as he had in their room. "Ready to go?" the boy asked calmly. "It'll take us about ten minutes to find the «Spatial Rift» so I would suggest that we head out now."

"Alright," Sinon responded, looking down at her feet.

The walk there was quiet and rather uneventful. The two teammates tried as hard as they could to not engage in any conversation unless the silence was unbearable. Sinon continued looking at Jace's scars, and Jace would walk faster to avoid Sinon's questions. By the time they had reached the «Spatial Rift» Sinon had given up wondering about Jace's scars and Jace had given up trying to avoid talking to Sinon.

"Ladies first," Jace said with a small bow, not realizing that his companion was in a minor state of distress.

Sinon glanced into the dark abyss that was the «Spatial Rift.» She had ventured into the depths of these teleportation devices many times before, and it still unnerved her. She was unsure how she was unable to stand the turning after using them so many times, but somehow the ice-hearted sniper always felt a chill in her stomach when she stared into the darkness of the teleportation system. The blue-haired girl gulped and stepped closer. As the darkness swirled, she found her stomach beginning to churn as well. The longer she stood in front of the chasm, the more uneasy she felt. Finally, she realized that nothing would help but jumping in, and she did so just before Jace could ask if she was alright.

–o–

Wednesday, January 18th 2023. Continent: Ianides. Wavecrest. User Sinon

Sinon stood up slowly on the street, Jace's firm grip helping her back up after her black out. She chastised herself for fainting at a mere sensory issue, not allowing Jace to comfort her as she gritted her teeth to hold back her frustrations. How was she going to get stronger if she couldn't even use the damn fast travel system?

After about eight minutes of arguing and subconscious walking, they found themselves at the front door to the «RDoW Headquarters.» It was nothing like Jace had heard anyone describe before. It wasn't a large building like the «Black Iron Palace» or anything, but it certainly had a specific style. It was clearly a futuristic jail-like building, with bulletproof glass and walls made of a dull metal.

Jace walked ahead of the sniper that he had been idly bickering with and approached the front door. It opened easily and from behind a front desk, a young woman looked up. "Welcome to the «Lair of the Red Dragon!»" She said happily. "How can I help you today?"

"We're here to see General Akiyo," Sinon answered cautiously.

"You must be Jace and Sinon," the lady smiled, standing up and bowing. "My name is Corporal Blueblood; it's a pleasure to meet you both. My commanding officer, Sergeant XoloX, raves about you and a few other players in the Clearer group. He says that you two are the best pair there except for Asuna and Kirito. You're really smart too, and that's vital. Let me just call him over. Can I see your player card information?"

Sinon manipulated her menu and pulled out her player card, swinging the screen around so that the Corporal could see it. She looked at it and nodded before looking at Jace's as well. "Thank you!" the woman said, slapping the send button on her own menu. "The General should be down shortly."

"Thank_ you_," Jace said with a smile. For some reason, the smile he gave her bothered Sinon. Something about the way it made her look down just got her blood boiling. She decided to fix this by stepping on Jace's foot who yelped. Blueblood looked at him curiously, and the blonde shook his head. "My shirt did a weird thing and it felt weird."

The officer squinted a bit and nodded slowly, lips parted slightly, before going back to doing paperwork.

"What was that all about?" Jace whispered angrily.

"Stop flirting with every girl you meet!" Sinon snapped quietly.

"Huh?" Jace grunted in confusion. "What do you even _mean_ by that?"

"You can be such a man slut sometimes," she grumbled as the General walked closer. Sinon stormed straight past him as he was about to open his mouth and greet them. The only words she heard the man say until they reached his office were "Guess she likes to get down to business. You're lucky to have her."

"You have _no idea_," she heard Jace say as she headed up the stairs. When the other two caught up with her, Jace gently touched the sniper's back and began scratching it. Sinon felt her back shiver and arch by itself and was surprised to find that it made her feel good all over, though it made her angrier. She swatted his hand away discretely, resolving to make him scratch her back another day.

She sat down in one of two chairs in front of the desk and waited for Jace and the General to sit down as well. When they were seated, the general began to talk. "So I gave you a basic synopsis of the mission I need the both of you to undertake. Do you have any questions?"

"Well I need the details," Sinon said. "Jace must have forgotten to share them with me." She threw a pointed glance his way and then looked back at the General coldly, without emotion.

"There's been a few reports of people being threatened and stolen from near «Fort Kronos» in the southeast," the General said. "I need two high leveled players that can gather quality information without getting screwed if you get into trouble. There will be a lot of circumstances like that.

"The Army is called the «Black Skulls» and they have a base centered somewhere in the wilds around «Thieves' Pass,»" he continued. "All of our intel leads us to believe that they're there, at least. Every time we go, though, there's nothing there. We've stormed the entire cavern system of the «Ethereal Highlands,» and all for naught."

"So where do we start?" Jace asked.

"We'll have you set up in «Fort Kronos» for a while until you can get stolen from," Akiyo answered. "You'll have to mask your levels at all times and you'll have one hell of a time trying to find equipment that looks like it's low-quality but not. Try and attract thieves and then get information from them about things that they know. Then you follow the bread crumbs and end up at the top. Bring back the leader dead or alive."

Sinon felt a cold chill rushing down her back. She couldn't kill anyone, not again. Her breath quickened, but she forced herself to get a hold of herself. It wouldn't have to happen unless it was the only option. And then she could make Jace do it.

"We accept," Sinon said.

)-0-(

Wednesday, January 18th 2023. Continent: UNKNOWN. UNKNOWN. Admin Heathcliff

Kayaba stood in the black square room he called the Admin Box silently, watching over the world with caution. Sometimes he liked to watch the notable players going about their business. Other times he liked to check in on the sanity program. Other times he liked to join in the fights and help the players advance. Without him he knew that they wouldn't get very far. He had planned some of the bosses to fight mercilessly, and he was sure that the many Clearers would die in those battles.

For now, he was just watching.

"Kibaou and Xaxa, huh?" Kayaba wondered absentmindedly as he watched the footage from their deal. "I never would have guessed them as a team but it works."

Something about that duo made him feel slightly anxious though. The deal seemed like it would cause a large death toll, and despite popular belief, he didn't create Galactic Warfare Online as a means to kill people. He made it for another reason. It was fading from his memory these days. By the time they got out, it would be completely gone.

"Jace and Sinon and Kirito and Asuna seem to be progressing nicely," Kayaba mused aloud, absently stroking his chin. "It's a wonder they aren't leading the Clearing group. The current leader must be incredibly powerful." The man paused to grin devilishly. "Oh wait, that would be me. I'm so good at being right."

"Kayaba," called a soft female voice from behind the man. "Why can't I leave this room?"

Kayaba turned around to look at a young girl with ebony black hair down to her waist. She looked about eight years old, and something about her seemed off. "It isn't time for that yet," Heathcliff told her. "You know that."

"I just want to fulfill my purpose," the girl said with tears welling in her eyes. "It's my job to monitor the characters' emotional health and I can't even─"

"Enough, Yui," the man whispered harshly enough to stop any boss dead in its tracks. The girl looked down and frowned at the ground, hair hanging over her forehead. Tears dropped from unseen eyes that were covered by her hair. "Sometimes I think you forget that you're a program."

Yui flinched at the man's words, standing frozen in place for a moment. Then she sniffed and turned away, walking to the center of the room and sitting down, curled up and made to be as small as possible.

"Cardinal," Kayaba demanded. "Show dataset 42a v 1.2.1."

A menu popped up in front of the man and a line graph appeared. On the y axis were the amount of players left in the game, and on the x axis were the number of weeks the players had all been in the game. The likelihood of them making it all the way to the end seemed unlikely as it was─Kayaba figured that it wouldn't be that way for long, though; soon the players that were weak would be killed and 95% of those who were left would be still alive by the end.

Such as Kirito, Asuna, Jace, and Sinon.

Kayaba sighed. Those four were going to get into a lot of trouble if they didn't focus on clearing the game. Maybe he would have to fix that… "The «Black Skulls» aren't too big right now, nor are they much of a threat," he said idly as he clicked and flicked away at the array of screens that were popping up in front of him left and right. "But if we were to say increase the amount of good drops near their base, then they'd stay there and keep on hunting, getting a bit stronger. Then they could defeat Kirito and crew before they can find out about it and it would go on undiscovered; the «Black Skulls» really aren't the smartest."

"What are you talking about?" Yui asked cautiously.

"Nothing that concerns you, Yui," he responded calmly, flipping through more menus, sliders, and switches. _"I really have to get another console base to keep her in,"_ he thought. _"I know she's just trying to do her job, but it's really bothersome."_

"_Confirm adjustments to rate: itemdrop in area: -23433.886, 9300472.731?"_

Kayaba pressed the accept button and watched as the process began to load. A menu prompted him for the admin password, which he entered immediately. He needed to keep the secret safe, no matter what the costs. He would protect it even if it would be the last thing he did.

They could never know who he was, none of them could…

**Author's Notes**

**Hey guys, so there's the ninth chapter. I know you guys might have questions about the chapter, but I'm going to get on with the news before I go over them.**

**Before you say anything, yes this chapter was **_**way**_** late. I got **_**really**_** strained trying to write this chapter due to massive amounts of writer's block. I've also been crazy busy and now I have a job where I work thirty-two hours a week. On top of that, we have to turn in the school computers in no less than a week, but I have a laptop of my own now.**

**That being said, this story is going on a hiatus.**

**I feel overwhelmed writing this story and I see three things that I can do: lower the word/chapter ratio, give up quality for words, or just put the story on hiatus until I get a fresh burst of energy. Each of these has its perks and drawbacks.**

**With lowering the ratio, it'll be easier to start, but all the work on the 10K chapters will go down the drain, which is one of the things I pride myself in. I am also very proud of the high (I think) quality of this fanfiction, so I wouldn't change that for anything. The hiatus would make it take a LONG time before the chapters are out again, but they'd come as frequently as they use to. That's what I want.**

**This is a good place to start a hiatus as well. This is the last chapter of the Exposition Arc, the season finale, the last chapter of boring exposition. The next arc will be the Crime and Companionship arc, and it will focus heavily on Jace and Sinon, but Jace in particular. Then we will move into the Cold War arc, before hitting the Super Soldiers arc, followed by the Final Battle arc, the Canon arc, and finally the Champion Arc. If you'd like to start creating fan theories about what is to come, I'm all for it. Message me your theories or leave them in a review. **

**Before I leave you with my last words for a few months, I'll explain what you in expect in the Arc Premiere: Sherlock. The next Arc, the Crime and Companionship Arc is going to be based heavily off of murder mystery type books and shows. Think of it as a mix of NCIS and the Robert Downy Jr. version of Sherlock Holmes.**

**One thing can make the hiatus quicker though: reviews. As an author, praise and criticism is what fuels me to write and lately I feel that I haven't had much of those. That could be because I haven't updated yet, but I need to feel that people are reading and waiting. If everyone that read this chapter on the first day it comes out left a review, there probably would **_**be**_** no hiatus to be needed. So if the more reviews, the shorter the hiatus will be.**

**During this time, I will be working on The Armada and a new work of original fantasy fiction on my fictionpress account called "Of Dreams and Dragons." The story is about a group of heroes on a quest to defeat an evil mage and save the world. The prologue is up right now, and it's about 1K words, but the next chapters will be longer. So if you're craving my writing, check The Armada and Of Dreams and Dragons.**

**Now onto the real meat: the story itself.**

**Normally I would address any questions I may think you'd have, but this time, I'm just not feeling it. I'm so close to getting this chapter out, I can't wait any longer than I have to. If you do have questions though, I would love to answer them! Just leave them in a review and I'll either respond directly to you or post a chapter later on with all the compiled questions and delete it about a week before I come back.**

**I love you all, and I promise I will be back before winter. I hibernate in reverse. ;)**

**-Artie Ross**


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